


The Lost Day

by WhoInWhoville



Series: FoundVerse [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Anger, Bad Wolf Rose, Despair, F/M, Kissing, Memory Loss, Regeneration, Romance, Rose Tyler dies but she isn't dead not really, Separation, Timey-Wimey, Torchwood - Freeform, UA, angry jackie tyler, but i promise she will come around, doctor stuck in a house, i bring life, lying, mickey yvonne donna ianto and lisa are not major characters although they all play an important role, yay for kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 21:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8683930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoInWhoville/pseuds/WhoInWhoville
Summary: Ten has been living with the loss of Rose to the Bad Wolf for almost a year. He’s stuck on Earth living in a home with doors, but no carpet or mortgage. He's just making do, until a certain pink and yellow girl shows up at his door.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This diverges from canon at the end of The Parting of the Ways. First installment of the FoundVerse. Originally posted 10/2012, taken down September of 2014. Decided to put the series back up. Originally beta-read by Kelkat9, onabearskinrug/aintfraidanoghosts, and timelord1. A few changes have been made, mostly grammar-related. One timeline change. (Removed the reference to TIP/TSP as it no longer made sense within the series as a whole.
> 
> In order to put this back up, I to copy and paste this out of an iBook document into Ulysses (my mac writing software). Some of the formatting is wonky -- lost paragraphs, duplicated lines, etc. PLEASE let me know if you find things that just don't look right!

## Prologue

He knew she loved this daft old face of his, so he didn’t want to risk regenerating into someone she wouldn’t love. 

Of course, he knew there was no risk that he wouldn't love _her_.

He pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver and aimed. Time still swirled in her eyes. 

_Pure agony._

Her knees buckled, and he caught her.

He knew her mind was melting, overwhelmed by the knowledge of infinity in her brain. 

He knew what he had to do.

So he kissed her. He absorbed Time, knowing it was his death sentence.

But she collapsed in his arms. Her head lolled to the side. Her eyes were without spark. 

Rose was gone, killed by Time. 

She had saved the Universe, but the victory was bitter. 

His physical body was failing quickly. Wouldn't be long now. His TNA strands were unravelling at an alarming rate. He could feel the smoulder, the slow burn. Soon would come the inferno — he’d burn from the inside out. But he steeled himself to fight the natural progression of his regeneration. He wasn’t ready to cheat death. 

He set the coordinates and begged his ship for accuracy. “Please, please do it for her.” 

The magical sound of the rotor was replaced by a groan. He could feel his TARDIS mourning the death of the Wolf, that she shared his broken heart. 

He lowered his aching body to hard metal grating, feeling every indentation and divot digging into his over-sensitive, tingling flesh. He gathered her limp body into his arms and cradled her, half-blind from the burning tears streaming from his eyes. 

Her last words reverberated: _I bring life! ... I want you safe, my Doctor ... I create myself! ... My head. It’s killing me._

His TARDIS materialized without a bump or bounce. He opened the door and walked into Jackie Tyler’s flat. Her only child was cradled in his arms, a limp sacrifice. He stuttered an incoherent explanation, and then begged forgiveness over and over. 

She gave no acknowledgement. Instead, anger, pain, hatred and grief radiated from a mother’s eyes, speaking louder than any words she could ever scream. She didn’t want to hear that her girl had saved the universe. She wanted her Rose. 

Gentle. Silent. Reverent. He laid her on the sofa and placed a soft kiss on her cool lips. He smoothed her hair with his hand and caressed her cheek. As he straightened up, he forced himself to look into Jackie's eyes one last time, to sear the memory of her pain into his mind. 

Penance. 

He couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer, so back into the TARDIS he went, now ready and willing to accept his fate. 

The magic blue box disappeared from Jackie Tyler’s life with a groan and a sigh. 

But... as it is in the way of these things, had he stayed one minute longer, just one measly minute more, he would have witnessed one of those miracles in which he firmly did not believe. 

Because what he didn’t know was that his TARDIS had tried to tell him. _Don't go. Don't go. Don't go!_ But he had deafened himself to her silent shouts. 

Her Time Lord needed the Wolf, so she’d decided to take matters into her own hands.


	2. One

## Chapter One

In the cool darkness of sleepless nights, when moonlight shone through her bedroom window and stars twinkled above, Rose Tyler would remember. 

_She’s awestruck. Frozen waves tower overhead. Her hand is warm — because he’s holding it. But she’s shivering in the wind. He offers his leather coat but without waiting for her answer, he drapes it over her shoulders. His ice-blue eyes melt when she smiles her silent thank you to him._

In the light of day, when she caught sight of the cat door, saw Harriet Jones on the news, or if she walked past the Henrik’s construction site, she would shove the memories into the back of her mind and would try her very hardest to just forget it all. 

But there were times when she simply couldn’t forget — when no amount of willpower could force the memories to vanish. In those times when her willpower was weak, Rose would hop a bus down to the Embankment. She would walk; and then she would run; and finally, she would stop and lean on the railing to catch her breath and look out across the Thames over to the London Eye. She would find a bench and sit for an hour or two. She would set her mind free to let her thoughts fly. 

But sometimes, not often, her thoughts would tumble, crash and then burn, an angry fireball blazing in the pit of her stomach. The Doctor had tricked her. He had sent her into the TARDIS to retrieve some gadget, do some menial task — she couldn’t even remember his excuse. The doors had slammed shut, and that bloody hologram had appeared and he had sent her home. And even _after_ she had gone back and saved him, he had knocked her out — Spocked her! Bringing her back home a second time! He had just dumped her on the couch to wake up in her flat with the worst headache of her life. At Christmastime! He knew she _loved_ Christmastime.

Had she deluded herself? Maybe he didn’t care about her _that_ way — the way she _thought_ he did. 

And how could she still love him so much that it physically hurt? 

So this is how she lived the year after she’d been abandoned by the Doctor, dropped off at her mother’s flat. Jumping from warm memory to forgetfulness to anger and back again over and over and over. And it was that time again. Christmas was in two weeks. 

It was time to move on. 

oOo

“Ms. Tyler? This is Ms. Temple from the temp agency. We have a long-term job for you. Are you available?" said the temporary employment agency owner.

“Well, yeah! Of course. That was fast!" 

“It is all about timing in the temp business. It's out in Greenwich, by the Naval Observatory. How soon can you get there?" 

"I can hop a bus in twenty."

"Great! You got a paper and something to write with?"

She fumbled through a messy drawer and found what she needed. "Ready." 

“Now, you’ll be working for a scientist. His office and lab are at his house." 

“So what's the job then?" 

“Lab assistant,” said the agent.

“Lab assistant? What kind of lab? I don’t have any scientific experience.” Was that a lie? She screwed up her mouth. Did helping the Doctor with alien experiments, handing him strange tools as he fixed the TARDIS, patching up wounds from alien weapon blasts count as scientific experience?

“Oh, that's all right! He gave specific instructions that he wants someone with absolutely no experience. Only to be bright, teachable and enthusiastic. You aced your placement examination. For someone with no A-Levels, Rose you are, well, different.” 

Rose laughed nervously. It was true. Her mind had seemed to be more sharp since she’d ran into the TARDIS that night. She really couldn't explain it, and it was something she didn't talk about either. 

"Rose, you still there?" 

"Yeah. Sorry. I’m here." 

"Well anyway, he said he wanted someone who really needed a job. I know you’ve been looking for a while now, and you met all of the qualifications. Honestly, you are the first one I thought of.” 

“Mum’s been getting on me to find a steady job. Thanks." 

“Now, a bit of a warning. Nothing too awful. He’s sort of eccentric, this one. Mad scientist type.”

“I can handle strange. Believe me,” she laughed.

“But he's nice. Really, really nice. You’ll like him. But he has one helluva gob. He’ll talk your ear off, and you won’t have any idea what he’s going on and on and on about. Just nod and listen. Got it?” 

Yeah,” she laughed. “So where’m I going?”

“Out near the Royal Observatory. Go to the cottage with the dark blue door and white-trimmed windows on Eastney Street, about a block north of where it intersects with Trafalgar Street. There’s a bus stop just a bit up Trafalgar.” 

“House number?” 

She paused. “I told you he’s weird. What a spaceman. He didn’t give me the bloody house address. Only said look for the blue door. Honestly! That man! I swear he'd lose his head if it weren't attached to that skinny little neck if his." 

“It's okay. I'll figure it out. I'm good at finding places.”

“So you’re set then?”

“Nervous, but yeah. I’m ready.”

“Don’t be nervous, just be yourself. He’ll love you.” 

oOo 

"Doctor? This is Donna Noble-Temple from the agency." 

"Hello Donna Noble-Temple! So nice to hear from you. How goes the quest for my companion?" 

“I’ve told you a million times, I won’t list the job as companion! It’s Lab Assistant, you dumbo. I am sending someone over today. I hope she works out for you. You are a very picky man, you know that don't you?" 

"Not picky, particular. I only take the best, Donna Noble-Temple. It’s why I hired you. You are the best." 

"Well thanks for that, and Donna is just fine. Really,” she huffed. “I don't get any of your weird requirements. Don't matter to me though. You hired me to find someone, and find someone I have. Came in and signed up just yesterday. Never seen anyone like her. She doesn't have her A Levels, but I promise, it won't matter. She is brilliant, and she meets all of your weird qualifications, well the ones I thought weren’t strange enough to tell her about, which means, I didn't tell her any of them. You’ll have to work all that other stuff out with her. She would have thought you were a nutter if I told her you wanted someone who didn’t have a problem working with aliens. And liked fresh bananas.” 

"Aliens are very real, Donna Noble-Temple, and requiring a lab assistant to pick up bananas on the way to work is not unusual.” 

"Oh yes it is, sunshine. And so is calling yourself just by your title. It’s pompous. But you pay me the big bucks, so I’m doing my job. And you struck gold with this one. She’s bright as they come. Cute thing too. Ran into a bit of hard luck, though. Was in some sort of accident a few months back and lost a bit of her memory and couldn't work for a while. She really needs the job. But I promise, it won't affect her work performance at all. She lives with her mum down on one of those rough council estates. But she has maturity, you know. Wiser than her age." 

“So who is this super-temp that you have found for me?” 

“Her name is Rose. Rose Tyler." 

"What did you say?" He stumbled over his words. "I don't think I heard that last bit right." 

"Pay attention, Mister Tight Pants! Her name is Rose Tyler.” 

The silence was thick, and when he finally spoke, he had a rasp in his voice. "Thank you for finding her, Donna." His hand shook violently as he raked it through his wild brown hair. 

There was a knock at the door. Through the wavy, 150-year old pane glass windows, he caught a distorted glimpse of blonde hair.


	3. Two

## Chapter Two

_Eleven Months, Two Weeks, Three Hours and Four Minutes Prior_

The TARDIS dragged her feet, or rather her rotor, as long as she could, but he was determined to ignore her groaning attempts to get his attention - to wait just one more minute. He was deaf and blind with grief. She could have sprayed him with hot engine oil and he wouldn't have flinched. 

As he piloted her to a cozy little spot near the rings of Saturn, she moved the Zero Room into his line of sight. He stumbled in, knowing this was going to be a rough one. Not a gentle fade away and reappearance with a new body. 

He allowed himself to succumb to the all-consuming fire. The womb-like white Zero Room gently embraced the dying Time Lord as he burned. Every single one of his cells was destroyed and re-written. The walls absorbed his screams, dampening the sound of his torture from his own ears. 

When the regeneration was complete, he floated in the nothingness of sensory deprivation, his body perfectly at rest, mind blank. The healing coma prepared him for his new life as the Tenth Doctor. Yes, he was new, but one thing had not changed: he loved Rose Tyler, and that would never change. In fact, he’d made it the foremost thing in his mind as he had burned. 

oOo 

Jackie watched the final ghostly image of the TARDIS fade from her life. The moment it vanished, she kneeled by the couch and collapsed onto her daughter's prone body, a blur of mourning, weeping and screams. She buried her face in Rose's hair, but instead of the soft honey and vanilla-scent that had always clung to her daughter, Jackie smelled the pungent tang of metal and the acrid smell of smoke and burnt flesh. Her daughter reeked of death. She forced herself to memorize that gruesome perfume, to emblazon it into her psyche. 

"Why did’d leave me Rose? Why’d you have to go back to him? Weren't we enough for you? What am I going to tell Mickey? Rose— Oh Rose— Why? Why?" 

"Mum?" Rose opened her eyes in panic. 

Jackie saw a faint glimmer of liquid gold swirling over her irises. 

"Where am I? Where’s— where's the Doctor? Watch out! Daleks! Jack! No! I won't let it happen! I want you safe, my Doctor! Oh my head! It's killing me!" Her voice rasped with pain as she grabbed her head and her face contorted in excruciating pain before her eyes closed once again, and her head lolled to the side. 

“R-Rose?" Jackie stuttered. She reached her hand to her daughter's now glistening forehead. She burned with fever. Hesitantly, Jackie placed her ear on Rose's chest. There was a strong, but fast, heartbeat. 

Jackie moved herself to the floor, and leaned against the couch in hopeful disbelief. She eventually fell into a deep, dreamless sleep curled up on the floor. 

oOo 

Floating in nothingness, he took inventory: new teeth that felt weird in his mouth; a mole between his shoulder blades that he rather liked; a weakness in the dorsal tubercle of his right wrist, but he knew it was nothing serious — and his new manly, hairy hands made up for any minuscule bone defect.

But— was his hair ginger? Now that, _that_ was a very serious matter, and he had to resolve the question that very instant. A rush of adrenaline flooded his body as he released himself from the anti-gravity bonds of the Zero Room, found the floor and dashed out the door. He held up his too-big trousers with one hand, and pushed himself off of walls and doorjambs with the other as he careened through the corridors of his ship. He was skinny. Really skinny. These legs were itching to run. He bounded up the spiral staircase taking two steps at a time, eager to see what the regeneration energy had cooked up. 

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw his reflection in the mirror. A smug grin grew on his face. 

"Oh yes!" He exclaimed. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" He raised a single eyebrow and flirted with himself in the mirror. 

He shrugged off the black leather jacket and reverently hung it up in the coat section next to a pink embroidered bolero jacket that he vaguely recalled Zoe wearing once. 

What would he wear? What would be his look? He'd have to think about that one while he admired himself a little longer. 

He turned and looked over his shoulder at his bum. “Oh, very nice,” he said. No reason to jealous of pretty boys anymore. He waggled his eyebrows knowing that he now qualified as pretty. But not just pretty, he was downright sexy! 

"Rose Tyler, have I got a surprise for you!" he said quietly to his reflection. He practiced pouting, and then ruffled his really great hair, and winked at himself. And he wasn’t disappointed about the lack of ginger hair. 

But then the fog of post-regeneration excitement lifted, and he remembered. Rose Tyler was dead, and at that moment, he knew that every single time he looked in a mirror, he would see a man who had been tailor made for his precious girl. 

He stumbled to the spiral staircase, sat on the top step and wept.

oOo 

Jackie awoke with a start, tangled up in a crocheted afghan. She’d fallen asleep in her clothes. She blinked a few times to shake off the horrific images still taunting. The nightmare had been so vivid, so horrific. 

The Doctor cradling her dead daughter. His useless explanations about how end of the universe had been averted, but the cost had been Rose. Something about Dollucks, whatever a Dolluck was. She remembered that hated man crying and kissing Rose goodbye. _How dare he touch his poison lips to Rose's face._

But then Rose had spoken. Her eyes had glowed like she’d been possessed by a demon. 

Her mind was fuzzy and her head was pounding. She strained to remember. Maybe she had gone out for drinks with the girls. She must have had too much. She got up to make herself a nice cup of tea, but she stopped dead in her tracks then when heard a quiet voice coming from Rose's bedroom. 

"He left me! The Doctor left me! I— I love him so much! I thought he loved me too, but he left me. He knocked me out on purpose! How could he do that to me? And then he just left me." Rose repeated the words over and over. 

Could it have been real? She refused to believe it, but then she stood in the doorway of the darkened room and her heart broke at the shadowy sight of her only child, curled in a ball in the corner of her room. 

With halting steps, she approached Rose, offered her hand, encouraging her to the bed. Wordlessly, Rose complied. With tender hands, she peeled the filthy and putrid clothing from her daughter's shivering body. She found an oversized t-shirt and flannel sleeping shorts in the drawer. She dressed her daughter like she would help a toddler, guiding Rose’s arms through the sleeves and easing the shorts onto her legs. 

"I need you Mum. Please, don't leave me. Please." 

A continuous stream of tears flooded Rose's swollen face as she eased the blanket over her child and then joined her under the covers, drawing her close. After a while, Rose's quiet sobs slowed, and then finally stopped as again, Rose fell into a deep sleep. 

But she couldn’t rest as she tried to wrap her mind around the reality of the past day. It was _very_ real, and her hatred for the man in leather grew to the point of rage. She felt a bit of solace knowing that he was living in the mistaken belief that Rose was dead. 

_I hope he suffers a good long time,_ she hissed to herself. _And if I have anything to do with it, he'll never know she’s alive. He's never going to steal her heart away again._

She rolled over and found the pink cell phone on the side table that Rose had been so proud to tell her the Doctor had rigged up. It beeped quietly as she scrolled through the contacts until _TARDIS_ appeared. Without a second thought, she pressed _delete_. One-by-one she erased all incoming and outgoing calls until every reference to the Doctor was gone. 

And in that moment, Jackie Tyler resolved to never tell her Rose the truth. She decided to let Rose believe she’d been abandoned by a man who no longer cared for her. She knew it would bring her daughter pain, but she was her mother after all. It was her job to protect her daughter. She'd failed her once, helping her daughter get back to that bloody alien by borrowing that big yellow truck. But no more yellow trucks. She wasn't going to fail her daughter again. 

oOo 

The Doctor realized he was hungry. He'd been through a regeneration after all, quite the shock to the system. Superior Gallifreyan physiology or not, he needed food. So he slowly rose from the top step, and made his way down the stairs in search of something to eat. 

He pulled two slices of bread from the bag, and dropped them into the ancient toaster. He pushed the lever down and grimaced slightly at the squeaky sound of metal against metal, and then adjusted the dial down from the dark setting favored by his former self to a perfect medium golden brown that seemed just right. 

_100% whole wheat, no artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and a robust 12 grams of fiber per serving._ She’d made him go to the expensive organic market to buy it. "Bananas and tea aren’t a well-rounded diet, Doctor,” he recalled her sweet voice. She had always worried about him. 

He’d never told her, but his body didn't discern any difference between fluffy white bunny bread and the whole grains she insisted he eat. His biology would’ve taken the nutrients he needed from a rock. _Don’t want to break these perfect teeth, though. That’d be a waste._ but he had humored her with a bit of bluster and a smirk, and a soft, warm 'thank you' in his hearts. 

He stood at the counter waiting for the toast to pop and polished off two bananas. While the second batch of toast was burning (he really needed a new toaster) he shoved two more bananas into his mouth. He washed it all down with two cups of tea — two sugars and a splash of cream. His body greedily absorbed the super-heated infusion of free radicals and tannin. 

With a satisfied stomach he left the kitchen and slowly made his way down the corridor. Echoes of his lonely feet slapped the floor bounced off of the walls. Once in the console room he fiddled with the controls, setting a course for nowhere in particular, but hopefully far away from Earth and the 21st century. With a decided lack of enthusiasm, he pulled the lever and put his ship into the vortex. 

“Oh, right. Clothing.” The denim trousers his former self had worn were not ideal for these skinny hips, and he was tired of hiking them up so he climbed back up the spiral staircase to the wardrobe room to find something that fit properly. 

His TARDIS had adjusted the wardrobe so that his size was front and center. Lacking enthusiasm, he pulled out a brown pinstriped suit, the first garment that his hand touched. A blue dress shirt was hanging conveniently close, and a geometric-patterned dark blue tie hung over the mirror. He needed shoes, too. His feet were starting to hurt from walking barefoot on the grating. He pulled on the first pair he saw, not really caring that they were dirty white plimsolls. They fit, they covered his feet, and that was the only he cared about. 

"I suppose this suit suits me," he said to himself, pleased with his skilled wordplay and not disappointed with his random selection. As soon as he was dressed, the TARDIS landed with a thud. Of course, logic dictated that statistically speaking, he would need a coat, given the propensity for most habitable planets to have atmospheric conditions requiring such protection. He grabbed a rather long brown one that caught his eye and slipped it over his newly donned suit. “Oh! Janis Joplin gave me this coat. I love this coat,” he remembered, glad he hadn't forgotten it at Woodstock. 

He made his way back downstairs and planted himself on the wide, worn, white bench across from the console. Draping his arms across the back and resting his crossed legs on the coral centerpiece, he thought for a while. _Last twenty-four hours haven’t been very good, have they, Old Girl?_ When had he started thinking in Earth time? When Rose came aboard, of course. 

He'd had his heart broken before. Grief wasn’t new. But this particular self seemed to feel it rather keenly. He was going to have to watch that — this mind could very possibly have a tendency towards melancholy. Not a becoming trait in a Time Lord, really. But who in the universe would care anyway? Wasn't he allowed his grief? All those who would’ve judged his lack of Time Lord propriety were gone. 

But then he felt something different. Optimism? He wasn't sure about this odd combination of emotions. Was this an aftereffect of the regeneration? Or was this his new personality? Would he be constantly like a small boat on the ocean? Riding the crest of a wave, high on excitement, only to crash down into the depths of despair? He pushed the confusing thought aside. He'd have plenty of time to ruminate as he walked the streets, or paths, or beaches, or halls — wherever it was. 

_Right. Time to find out where I am._ He slid off of the chair and headed down the ramp to the door. He paused for a moment, and then plunged his hands into his pockets. The pose felt natural. He turned and looked back into his ship, scanning the emptiness. Her lights dimmed, and he felt her in his mind, offering a gentle nudge out the door. 

He pulled the door open. And promptly scrunched his face and rolled his eyes. “London. Really?” She had taken him the last place he needed to be. And to make matters worse, his blessed TARDIS had planted herself right on the Embankment, directly across from the London Eye. The golden lights of the massive landmark shimmered in the calm, dark waters of the Thames. 

He stepped out onto the abandoned path with a sigh and looked up at the inky black sky. It was a rare crystal clear night and the stars mocked him. He stared up at the winking and blinking constellations, his teeth locked, and lips apart, an apparent new facial expression. He quickly calculated the date and time given their positions. Nearly midnight. And worse, it was the same day he’d left his lifeless Rose with her heartbroken mother. 

“Nope nope nope. I’m leaving.” He spun around and pushed the door. It didn't budge. He found his key, but it was cool. He shoved the key in the Yale lock. Nothing. Jiggled it. Nothing. He grabbed it with both hands and shook it violently. Nothing. He clucked his tongue and stamped his foot, and then pulled it out of the stubborn lock and shoved into his pocket. 

“Oh!” He reached for his sonic, adjusted it to setting 224, un-sticking sticky locks. The blue glow sputtered and hissed. 

"Fan-bloody-tastic," he said through curled lips. He frowned. “I don’t think I’m sarcasting anymore.” It didn't feel satisfying in the least. He decided that suffering in silent sadness would probably be more his thing. He returned his sonic to its new spot inside of his suit coat and pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. He stared at the lock, face blank. 

"I don't know what you are up to, but it isn't in the least bit funny." His voice — it only now dawned on him — it sounded almost like _hers_. No more hard-edged Northern snarl when he was angry. This time, it was a lilting Estuary to match his new, friendly, pretty face. Just one more reminder. He dropped his chin to his neck and sighed. 

He decided to try a different tactic: he knocked politely on the door and waited for an answer. He thought he heard the latch snick, so he pushed the door. Nope. Still locked. He cupped his hands around his eyes and peeked through the windows, his brow furrowed and face screwed up in frustration. The windows had already frosted over in the cold of the winter night. 

He leaned his forehead against the door and begged quietly, his eyes squeezed shut. "Please don't do this to me. Please. Not now. I can't lose you too." The lights of his ship dimmed, and then extinguished. But while gentle, comforting hum in his mind reduced itself to an almost imperceptible rumble, she was still there. But then his TARDIS disappeared. He knew she was there — he could sense that much, but she had hidden herself. 

His TARDIS, his last link to sanity, had stranded him in the exact spot where he and his Rose had first held hands and ran. 


	4. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jackie is going to start to feel out of character in this chapter. When I originally posted this, I did get some negative comments about the way she was behaving, and her attitude. I still stand behind the characterization. Remember, she didn't like Nine. She didn't approve of Rose's decision to travel. And she is furious that the Doctor had put her daughter in harm's way, and "got her killed". 
> 
> Let me know if you disagree. :D

## Chapter Three

The Doctor’s TARDIS had abandoned him on the Embankment. He was dumbfounded. Speechless. And that felt odd. This new mouth of his wanted to run a mile a minute. 

He walked over to a bench, and then dropped onto the cold metal. He looked up at the stars, a bit dizzy as the Earth spun underneath. 

Around two in the morning a police officer sauntered by.

“All right mate?" 

"Not really," he answered, not quite meeting the officer's eye. 

"Well, you don't look like a vagrant.”

"Sort of am at the moment." He tugged his ear.

"Ah," the officer said. "Your lady gave you the boot, did she?" 

“Yep.” He stared out across the river.

"Good luck. Feel free to warm this bench as long as you need. And remember, it's always darkest before the dawn."

"Well, that's not always the case. But sometimes it is. Cloud cover, time of year, the position of the moon all intertwine to determine the brightness of the sky before the dawn.”

The officer frowned, but then slapped him on the back. "There's a café that opens at five just up the road a bit in case you need to warm up. Called Naughty Lupin's. It's an odd place, but they make a decent cuppa." The officer went on his way, leaving him truly speechless. 

"Naughty Lupin’s? Really? That’s just awful.” He shook his head. 

_I am the Bad Wolf._

_I create the words and scatter them through time and space._

But then, something weighed heavily against his thigh. He rifled around a bit. “Old Girl, seems like you’re helping me out after all.” 

He dangled a set of keys in front of his face and jangled them. “Car and house. Hmmm.” A little golden wolf charm dangled from the silver ring.

_A message to lead myself here._

Next he pulled out a manila envelope. He pried open the metal butterfly clip and pulled out a thick stack of legal papers. “Oh hello. Looks like I’m the proud new owner of a 159-year-old Victorian cottage.” He read the description. “Two bedrooms, one full bath, remodeled kitchen, with a lovely walled-in garden in the rear complete with stone gardening shed that was converted by the previous owner — a physics professor — into a laboratory.” He smiled. “Brilliant!” 

In the bottom of the envelope was a photo of a row of neat and tidy stone cottages. A hand-drawn arrow pointed at the door in the middle of the block. It was TARDIS blue — even the windows were framed in white. He grinned.

The next item was a leather wallet with a bankcard issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland. “John Smith. Always in fashion. And would you look at this. Date of birth. December 10. Yesterday? Aw, I missed it! Never too late for cake, though. 36? Do I really look 36? 

“Nice picture. I like the hair. I’ll have to experiment with backcombing. And money! Could’ve been a bit more generous,” he complained. “Only twenty pound.

"Blimey, she's thought of everything, hasn't she? Trusty psychic paper, brainy-specs, wind-up mouse, Winnie the Pooh bedding set.”

A compact aluminum box was next. “Bigger on the inside, of course.” He grinned, pulling out tools, some that would be impossible to find either in this millennium, or galaxy. He ran his fingers over alien wrenches, calipers, electronic components, and castoff junk. The items would come in useful. He’d need to modify the lab. 

"Too bad Van Statten's museum is a big, giant, cement slab.” He snickered, but then his face fell. 

_What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?_

The Doctor squared his shoulders and completed the pocket expedition. 

The final item was a mobile — an iPhone 10, circa 2020. He was relieved to find the Apple logo was missing, as it would be hard to explain his possession of the phone considering the first version wouldn't even be released for another two years. He touched the screen, and it came to life. Rose's face greeted him. 

He stared at the phone for a long while, recalling the when and where of the photo. They’d just returned safely back to the TARDIS after having met Charles Dickens. Rose had released her hair from the elaborate Victorian style, shaken her head sending it down into gentle waves framing her face. She hadn't changed out of the beautiful garnet-coloured gown yet. Her feet had ached, so she’d ditched the authentic, Victorian-era shoes. 

She was sitting on the white bench in the console room, swinging her legs, the perfect mix of Victorian elegance and 21st century freedom. 

Thinking she wasn't looking, he'd snapped a picture. But she’d had caught him, and had then playfully snatched the camera from his hand and returned the favor, capturing a distorted, out of focus picture of half of his grinning face. 

He closed his eyes and imagined the feeling of electricity when their hands touched. 

“Why are you torturing me?” he asked the TARDIS.” Then he reflected on the fact that while she didn't always go where he wanted her to go, she always took him where he needed to be. That was some consolation, and the more he focused on that, the better he felt. 

So with a bit of a spring in his step, he rose from the bench and found the nearest bus stop. He was in luck — the next bus was headed to Greenwich, and there it was, coming around the corner. He hailed it with a smile, bounded up the steps and dropped his coins into the hopper. 

He scanned the bus filled with commuters and spied an available seat. He dropped with a thud. 

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, what's your name?" 

"I'm not tellin' you my name, Sunshine! Who do you think I am? A pickup? A quickie? I am engaged.” She flashed her modest diamond engagement ring in his face. 

"No no no no no! I'm just being friendly! I’m new in town." He grinned brightly and pushed his glasses up his nose. 

The ginger-hair woman rolled her eyes and pulled the cord to request her stop. "Excuse me, I need to get out. It's my stop. Weirdo." 

oOo 

Rose spent three days in bed. Worst headache ever. Fitful sleeping. Fever. Cold sweats. Weeping for hours at a time. Anguished. Despaired. Hopeless. Her mother spooned her ice chips, and held a straw to her lips, crying along with her daughter. 

On the fourth day, the headache was finally gone, but a gaping hole in her memory had replaced the pain. She was strong enough to take a shower. Burning water hit her back as she strained to remember.

_A big chain attached to a yellow truck, and then I’m in my own bed._

In the TARDIS, and then in her mother’s flat. Nothing in between but blackness. 

An entire day, lost.

But at least she ate something — bananas and tea. 

On the fifth day, Jackie suggested that she be seen at the local NHS clinic, but she’d have none of it. 

"I'm fine Mum, really. I'm just sad, you know? It just really, really hurts. And what would I tell them anyway? My friend the alien Spocked me and left me at my Mum's?" 

"You don't know the half of it," her mother muttered.

She peeled her third banana of the morning.

"Sweetheart, it’s not healthy — all those bananas? Howard's beginning to think I'm keeping a monkey in the flat." 

"But-- but-- they remind me of... him!" she wailed.

"I tell you what. Let’s go get chips.” 

"Yeah," she whispered. ”I don’t wanna go out, would you get them?”

“Rose sweetheart, you need to get out. Get some fresh air.”

“Please, Mum?”

Her mother shook her head, but then agreed.

“Ta. Lots of vinegar and salt. And get the ones from the good shop. Not that place with those weird brothers. And how about some biscuits?”

Jackie balled her fists.

It was the sixth day. "When you gonna call Mickey, Rose?” 

"Dunno." She dropped on the sofa and clicked on the telly. Melancholy _Coronation Street_ music played. 

“You don’t even like that programme.” Jackie slapped the power button. “He's your boyfriend and he deserves to know you’re home." Jackie put a hand on her hip. 

"Just—no, Mum. Please” She retreated to her bedroom. 

On the seventh day, Jackie called Mickey. "He's coming over right now and you're gonna tell him everything!"

"Really, Mum!" Rose stomped to her bedroom and slammed the door. She dropped to the floor, slumped her shoulders, and picked her nails. She heard Mickey's three-rap knock, her mother letting him in, and the crack and hiss of a Coke can.

"I'll kill him. I'll properly kill him. If I ever see his ugly face again.”

Rose rolled her eyes and then heard him growl and slap a table. 

"No one messes with my Rose. No one. I don't care if he is some super hero alien who has saved the world and stuff. He stole her from me. I was her boyfriend, and he just thumbed his nose and said too bad. Took her into that stupid spaceship box and disappeared. And then he does this to her? He broke her heart, Jackie, and that's just wrong. And you know what she told me? That they'd never even kissed. Stringing her along all the time, he was." 

“But she keeps telling me over and over they loved each other.”

“Yeah, well she told me they weren't that way. And I believe her too. Rose was never the kind to cheat. Big flirt, but never a cheat. There’s no way they was shagging.”

Rose’s face flushed . _He’s thought about this!_

“Love is different than sex, Mickey.”

She mouthed ‘thank you’ to her mother.

“Yeah, you’re right. But it’s like something was holding them back. It was all staring at each other's backs. The way she was around him. Really happy, you know? And the way he looked at her. Any idiot could see they were in love. That’s me. Mickey the Idiot.”

“Aw, Sweetheart.”

“I knew I was beat. I would've done the honourable thing and stepped out. All she needed to do was ask. I dunno. Suppose I couldn't admit it ’til now though."

“You know, Mickey, I heard you’ve been seen out with Tricia Delaney a few times.”

Rose smirked.

“Yeah, well. What choice did I have. I need to have fun, too. And we ain’t done nothing. Just had a few drinks down at the pub. And she likes watching football.”

“Mickey Smith. You need to talk to Rose.”

“She knows about Tricia. I told her a few weeks ago.”

“So the two of you _did_ end it?”

Rose swatted away tears. _I guess we both knew, didn’t we?_

”Yeah. In Cardiff. I took her passport to her. Thought she might need it. Was just an excuse to see her. To know one way or the other where we stood. I still love her, you know.”

“And I know she loves you too. Just not that way anymore." 

Mickey and her mother were quiet for a few minutes. 

"She's changed so much, and I blame him. That Doctor. He did this to her. Do you think he was messing with her mind or something?" her mother asked.

"Yeah, maybe that's it. I bet he was manipulating her in the head. Making her stay with him. There was this bloke. Captain Jack. He’s a time traveling bloke that Rose and the Doctor met at World War II. I met him in Cardiff. He told me about this alien sex pollen that could make someone think they was in love with you." 

"There's really such a thing?" Jackie asked. "Did he give you a sample?" 

Rose burst from her room, eyes flashing. "He wasn't messing with my mind! There was no alien sex pollen. We weren't shagging. We didn't even kiss. Not once. It was better than that. I loved him, and he loved me! If he brought me back here, it was for a good reason. And I hate living like this. Knowing he's out there all on his own! But I don't hate him. And I will never forget him, never! Now leave Mickey. We are finished! You knew that in Cardiff. So don’t put this on me.” 

"Well Rose, if that's what you think, that's it then. I won't bother you no more. Bye Jackie, you've been like a mum to me, but I know when I'm not welcome. I won't be coming round, at least not when Rose is here." 

But he did come back around a few days later with the excuse that he had a Christmas present for Rose that he couldn't take back. 

”It'd be a waste not to give it to you." He shifted his weight between his feet as she ripped the paper.

“Thanks, Micks. I can use a book about Mars.” 

They both laughed.

“Was supposed to be a joke,” he smiled.

“I love it. Thanks.”

"We’re still mates, right? I can't go back to the way we were. I'm sorry." She clutched the book to her chest. 

"I understand, Babe. I'm always here for you. If you ever decide to change your mind or something.” 

"You know I won't." She grinned for the first time since she’d been in the TARDIS. 

"I bet you will!" He bumped her shoulder. "If not me, then someone else. Some bloke's gonna snatch your heart. Just you wait and see." 

Rose blushed, and shook her head, but then became serious. "It won't happen Mickey. I would rather never love again." 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Mickey shook his head. "Alien sex pollen, I'm telling you. Ow!" He winced as she poked him in the ribs with her sharp elbow. 

oOo

Rose had been back home with Jackie for almost four weeks now. Four _miserable_ weeks. Maybe it was the grumpy shopper who had snapped up the last tin of Quality Street from under Jackie’s nose the day before. Or discovering that Mickey had eaten all of the crisps, and then put the empty bag back in the cupboard. And last night she’d been making her special Christmas pudding and realized she’d forgotten the coconut macaroons, so she had to go out and get the hard, cheap packaged kind from the 24-hour grocery instead of the soft bakery ones. 

It didn't help that Howard hadn't called her since Rose's return. He’d texted her. _Christmas is keeping me on my toes._

Something snapped in Jackie Tyler on Christmas Eve morning. 

Rose sat on the couch curled up under the crocheted afghan.

“You gonna stick your thumb in your mouth like a toddler or are you gonna get out from under that baby blankie and get your backside off of the couch?” 

Rose ignored her.

"Rose, get off the couch.” 

"Hadn't planned on it." Rose answered without a glance up, and aimed the remote at the telly. She flipped through the stations until she found an old black and white broadcast of _A Christmas Carol_ , which brought on an immediate and fresh round of sobbing. 

"The Doctor t— t— took me to Cardiff and — and we m- m- met Charles Dickeeeeeeenz!” She grabbed a box of Kleenex and blew her nose with a honk. 

"Honestly, Rose, look at yourself! You haven't left this flat since he brought you back to me! You don't do your face anymore. You hair is a sight. You bum around in dirty rumpled tracksuits and aren't eating right. You know that I caught you watching _Boobah_ the other day? You are going to get yourself sick if you keep this up much longer!" 

"What's the use? No one ever sees me but you and Mickey, and my makeup will just end up all over my face inna coupla minutes. I ain't going nowhere. Mum, gimme me that bowl of crisps, would ya? I can't reach." 

Jackie was done.  
"Rose Marion Tyler, you get your skinny arse off of that couch right now!"

She jumped.  
"We are going out. It is Christmas Eve, and we need to act like it! I want a turkey and fruitcake and Christmas crackers and chocolate. And I want some good wine. You need some wine to lighten you up a bit!" She pointed at her daughter. "And I don't care if your nose is red and your eyes are nearly swollen shut. I don't care that your roots are flippin' black! You get yourself into the shower, and put on some proper clothes. Now shift!" 

Rose complied without argument, and twenty minutes later, she had showered, dried her hair, applied a little bit of makeup, and dressed in jeans and a black winter parka. 

"Where we going anyway?" she asked as they settled into their seats on the Tube. 

"Leadenhall Market. I always buy my Christmas turkey from the butcher's there. It's tradition." 

"You do not. That is such a lie. You always buy it the supermarket. Why do you want to go all the way out to the Tower of London?" Rose whinged. 

"Stop your moaning. You needed a little trip. And we aren't going all the way to Tower Hill. There’s a closer stop." 

Rose sighed and leaned against the window. 

oOo 

He knew something was coming. The Doctor could feel it. In fact, he would have known even if he didn't have a brand new Wibbly-Wobbly Alien Activity Detector that he’d worked into his iPhone. 

And It had been screeching for the past two minutes. 

"I really need a new alert for that thing," he muttered. 

I had been a bit of difficult procuring some of the parts he needed for the ambitious project, but his UNIT contacts had helped. They had also promised to keep his presence on Earth — London in particular — secret. His bank account from his time working for UNIT years before had grown exponentially. In his seventh self, he’d cheated a bit, and used the TARDIS computer to peek into the future, recession-proofing his investments. He didn’t need to worry about the significant quantities of money that were required to gather the components. 

"Why was I such a cheap date with Rose? I could have bought her that chip shop!" he had thought regretfully as he withdrew cash from a cash machine and looked at his seven-digit balance on the receipt. 

With his iPhone/WWAAD in hand, the Doctor dashed out his back door and into the old stone garden shed that housed his project — a modest radio telescope. Well, modest by his standards, but worth a few million pounds by conservative estimates. 

"Happy Christmas to me," he muttered as he booted up the computer, connecting his telescope to the UNIT deep space satellite feed secretly maintained at the Greenwich Observatory. 

"Well, look at you, you big ugly beauty!" He growled as he peered through the eyepiece. "I think we are in for a Christmas invasion!" 

He grabbed his coat from the hook on the wall, pulled his keys from the pocket and ran for his TARDIS-blue Prius. The Doctor put the pedal to the metal, squealing the tyres, and set his course for UNIT headquarters in the Tower of London. 


	5. Four

## Chapter Four 

"You dragged me all the way down here and there isn't even a butcher shop, Mum! Turkey probably woulda cost you a hundred pounds even if there were such a thing as a butcher's at Leadehall!" Rose whinged. 

"Well pardon me for tryin' to cheer you up. I know you've seen everything there is to see, or so you say, I thought-" 

"I never said I that I have seen everything there is to see!" The angry timbre of Rose's voice changed as she became reflective. "Just the opposite, really. I've seen nothing. Nothing and everything and— Oh Mum! When you're out there, you understand just how small this planet is." She sighed and looked away to hide the tears creeping into the corners of her eyes. "You understand just how huge the universe is." 

"Maybe I was trying to impress you! Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, I feel a little bit inadequate compared to his nibs? He offered you everything. And what do I got for you? A council flat, hair dye, and shepherd's pie!" 

Rose felt anger boil in her belly. The hair on her neck prickled. Heat flooded her face. "It isn't a competition, Mum!" 

Jackie put her nose in the air. "And what about you, Rose? What good came of it all? Nothing. Nothing Rose! You gave him a whole year of your life." 

"I went willingly! Who wouldn't? He offered me the chance to see and do things no one could ever do! The fact that we fell in love was just on top of it all. I would've stayed with him even if he never loved me back." Rose squinted her eyes. 

Rose and Jackie both ignored the audience of well-heeled shoppers who’d stopped to listen-in on the two humbly dressed women. 

"Rose, it is obvious that he didn't feel the same way about you, because he left you here!" 

Rose's face fell, and as soon as the words left her mouth, Jackie felt a prick of conscience. 

"Don't say that." Rose whispered as she shook her head at her mother. "He did love me. He left me for a reason. I may never know why, but he wouldn't do that to me." 

"You are stuck here, and you'd better make the best of it." Jackie angrily pointed a long red-varnished fingernail in her daughter's face. "He's a bloke, and that's what blokes do to women like us. They use us up and toss us aside." 

“What do you mean, ‘women like us?!’ No one is better than anybody else! He showed me that!" Rose seethed. Her eyes burned from tears. Her short fingernails dug into the palms of her hands. "He is not just some bloke! He's the Doctor. And he is out there—“ She waved her arms widely “—somewhere! All on his own, saving some planet or even the whole universe. I helped him, and he helped me. And— and—“ 

Rose couldn't continue. She bent over at her waist, holding her face in her hands. She drew in several deep breaths before straightening back up.

Jackie opened her mouth, but Rose interrupted.

"I'll see you at home. Sometime." Rose turned on her heel and left her mother alone to mocking stares and comments. 

"Enjoy your Christmas, Rose Tyler. I know I will!" Jackie waved her bagged bottle of wine by the neck, but Rose had already disappeared around the corner, her hands clenched in the pockets of her hooded black parka. 

"Whaddayou looking at?" Jackie accused the bystanders through hot, misty eyes before she walked away, head high, heart low. 

oOo 

Rose knew the blowup had been building ever since the Mickey Incident, but she felt horrible that it happened on Christmas Eve. The burning anger had turned into a solid knot of sadness in the pit of her stomach. She would go home eventually, just not quite yet. Right now, she needed to remember why it had all mattered, to prove her mother wrong. 

In an attempt to shut out the world, Rose flipped up the hood of her black parka. She made her way southward towards the Thames. She hadn't been to the river since her forced return home, and she felt drawn to the Embankment. She decided to cross Tower Bridge and go for a long walk before catching a bus back home. 

Mindlessly, Rose walked down the sidewalk in a haze, passing unnoticed through the cheerful Christmas crowd like a ghost. The mingled laughter, chatter and music would have normally brought a smile to her face. Today, the sounds bounced off of her hard shell. Sparkling decorations and winking fairy lights were already bright in the waning light of the afternoon, but they didn't catch her eye. The skies were cloudy, the air was cool, but there was no chance for snow this year. Rain would probably be falling soon. 

The streets were deadlocked with cars, trucks, and taxis. She ambled down St. Katherine's, fingering the blue and white wall, making better time on foot than the motor traffic. It was at a standstill. 

Rose heard the shrill honking of a horn, and then a man's rapid fire, irritated voice. Ahead of her a little ways, a stocky police officer and the driver of a brand new blue Toyota Prius were arguing through the driver's window. Rose stopped and joined other nosy pedestrians who were enjoying the fight. 

"Officer, can't you make them move? Blow your whistle! Just do something! If you don't get this traffic moving soon, I am going to have to abandon my vehicle and run! I have a teleconference with Prime Minister Jones in twenty-two minutes and forty-one seconds!" 

"I am very sorry sir, but I'm not Moses. I cannae part the waters for ye." 

The man ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "All right then, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do. But the very fate of the world is at stake." 

Rose rolled her eyes, but something in his words also caused her heart to skip a beat. She smiled at his bravado and bit her lower lip to stifle a laugh. 

The engine halted, the door opened, and a handsome man revealed his full height. He sported an unusual brown pinstripe suit, a long sweeping overcoat and had really great hair. He slammed the Prius door shut with gritted teeth and stared at the police officer. In defiance, he stretched out his arm, and grandiosely pressed the button on the remote, locking his vehicle. "Ha!" 

She laughed out loud at the audacity of the man in brown pinstripes. There was something about him that was reminiscent of the Doctor. She considered him for a moment. Maybe it was his defiance? Or was it his flair for the dramatic? But then she saw what it was. It was his eyes. His deep brown eyes carried the same look of burden that she had seen in her Doctor's icy blue eyes. 

The man with the great hair scanned the crowd and half-smiled smugly at his audience. A few of the onlookers clapped and whooped. Rose furrowed her eyebrows as she swore she heard the sound of a sonic screwdriver. He nodded his head cheekily. He started to back away and then he stopped dead in his tracks, and looked back at the crowd, squinting his eyes as if he were desperately looking for someone. His face turned suddenly terribly sad. He had lost someone. She was sure of it. She recognized that look.. 

She smiled at him, unsure if he saw her gesture or not, and then turned her back and left to finish her walk of remembrance. She could hear the slapping of shoes on the pavement as he ran away from the threatening police officer’s shouts. 

oOo 

The Doctor was frustrated. Holiday traffic was horrendous, and he had to be at UNIT in half an hour if he was going to make that teleconference. 

"I am really not happy right now," he said through gritted teeth as he fumed at the thought of his cheeky TARDIS sitting hidden on the banks of the Thames. "How do humans do it? Day after day after day of sitting in traffic! It's a complete waste of time!" 

Traffic was at a dead stop on Tower Bridge, and he was so close! The Tower of London was right there! In a fit of frustration, he honked the shrill horn twice in rapid succession and then slammed his head against the headrest a few times. 

With an angry jab, he turned on the radio. "Two for the Love of One" from the album _Hour of the Wolf_ by Steppen _wolf_ was playing. He sighed and raked his hand down his face as he leaned on the driver's door and gripped the steering wheel. He was getting used to the almost-daily Bad Wolf references. Well he wasn't getting used to them, more like he was coming to expect them. 

Last night at 10:00 pm, Classic FM had broadcast _Wolf_ gang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 10 in G Major. The music had been enjoyable. A few faces ago, he had spent a week with Wolfy learning the piano-forte in Salzburg. The Doctor had whistled along merrily as tinkered in his lab, upgrading his Oyster Card so that it even worked in those Underground stations that still had’nt been fitted with a card reader. 

When the symphony was complete, he had switched the station on his SuperRadio, which he had upgraded to pick up future London radio stations. He had really wanted to hear Snow Patrol's "If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It," but "Run" had been playing instead. 

_Light up, light up_

_As if you have a choice_

_Even if you cannot hear my voice I'll be right beside you dear_

_Louder louder_

_And we'll run for our lives_

_I can hardly speak I understand_

_Why you can't raise your voice to say_

_To think I might not see those eyes Makes it so hard not to cry_

_And as we say our long goodbye I nearly do_

Of any song, this was one of the last he wanted to hear. He had turned off the radio, and then had finished his work in silent sadness. 

A horn honk brought him out of his thoughts. A police officer was ambling across the bridge towards him. He pressed the button to open the window down and hailed him, hoping to convince him to do something, anything, about the bloody traffic. 

His normally winning ways and words failed to sway the officer to his side of things, so he jumped out of Bessie II. On the sly, the Doctor aimed his sonic at his vehicle. He locked the wheels so that she couldn’t be towed to an impound lot. He'd be back for her soon enough, or would send someone to retrieve her. 

Always one to love a bit of an audience, he beamed back of the crowd, thanking them for their support. He scanned the audience, accepting their lauds, and he thought he saw a smile. A familiar, heart-warming, and heart-breaking smile. He thought he saw Rose Tyler. 

He searched through the crowd of faces, but she was now lost in the mass of people. His face fell. Was he going so mad with grief that he thought he was seeing her now? Was it some sort of time echo? He resumed his sprint to the Tower of London as the police officer hollered, “Stop!”, threatening him with arrest and something about the book and the slammer. 

"Impossible," he said to himself as he walked down the corridor to the lift that would take him to the underground headquarters of UNIT London. "Couldn't be her." He emerged from the lift and was promptly saluted. 

"Doctor! It is so good to finally meet you in person. I'm Captain Erisa Magambo. Welcome to UNIT." 

"No, please, don't do that— salute thing.” The Doctor's scowled. "Good to be back here. I haven't been here since, well, it's been a few faces." 

The dark-skinned woman smiled. "The Brigadier warned me that you would not appear as you do in our files. He has told me nothing but the best things about you. But I must admit, I am rather surprised to see you here. What brings you to London?" 

He tugged his ear. "My TARDIS is in the shop, and I've decided to do a bit of freelancing for a while. Been helping the kind people at the Observatory boost their telescope a bit. Speaking of that, I have something that you really need to see. Can you direct me to a computer with web access? And I hope you don't mind, but I have arranged a videoconference with Prime Minister Jones. She needs to see this too." 

"Follow me and we'll get you set up at a computer." 

He passed by a clerk’s desk, and grabbed a couple of Christmas satsumas out of a basket tied with a Christmas red bow. He shoved one in his pocket, and peeled the second, shoving half of it into his mouth. 

oOo

"It's the end of the world! The aliens are here!" An inebriated, wild-eyed woman repeated the dire words at the top of her lungs. Hers was the only voice in the pub other than the alarmed, but professional voice of the news presenter on the television. Several patrons told her to 'shut it!' before she left the dark establishment in terrified tears. 

Jackie sat on one of the stools at the bar staring up at the television screen along with all of the other patrons. She was still reeling from Rose's phone call from a half an hour earlier. She was staying put, just as Rose had told her to do. Rose had much more experience with this sort of thing than she, and if Rose said to stay put, she would stay put. But only because there were aliens. 

“Of course there are aliens,” she mused. _So where's her precious Doctor now? Going to save us all? Or has he abandoned us too? Left us to fend for ourselves us like he discarded my Rose._ Jackie let the bitter and semi-alcohol-addled thoughts tumble around her mind. 

_"...Codrafee Sycora. Condrafee gassac tel dashfellik."_ The image on the screen was grainy, and the face speaking, terrifying in its ugliness. 

"It has not yet been confirmed, but apparently, _Guinevere One_ , which was supposed to have landed on Mars this Christmas Eve, has either been intercepted or has crashed into some sort of alien spacecraft or asteroid-type base." The news presenter was flustered. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just received word that Prime Minister Jones will be addressing us presently." 

Jackie felt a gentle touch on her shoulder, and was surprised to hear her daughter's voice so soon after their phone call. Jackie softened as Rose hugged her.

"I got here as quickly as I could Mum. Come on, we need to get out of here." 

"What's goin' on Rose?" Jackie slid off the barstool. 

"I don't know. But it isn't good. As soon as I heard that man on the bus hollering about aliens, a big UFO and something called 'sin-co-rocks’, I knew I had to find you." 

"But the Prime Minister! She's going to be speakin' any minute. Don't you think we should stay and listen?" 

Rose shook her head. ”We need to leave now. To get someplace safe." Rose grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her away from the bar, through the crowded pub, and out into the darkness of the cold, damp night. Rose broke into a quick jog, knowing they actually should be moving faster than that, but she was limited by Jackie's lack of fitness. 

Word had obviously spread quickly, sending a panic through the population of London. People were running and the streets were jammed with abandoned vehicles. Tube queues were up the stairs. Police officers were setting up barricades and forming queue lines for buses. Every taxi was occupied. 

I wish the Doctor were here," Rose cried to herself. In habit, she pulled her pink mobile out of her pocket, pressed and held speed dial one as they ran. "Oh please please please please answer!" 

"Slow down- Rose— I— can’t keep up— with you!" Jackie gasped, pulling her hand free from Rose's. Jackie hunched over, begging for breath as she grabbed her knees. 

She pressed and held key number one a second time, this time looking at the screen. _This spot unassigned_. She thumbed through her contacts. 

"Where is my TARDIS contact?" she mumbled. "Where is my TARDIS contact?" she asked a second time, her voice shrill and panicked.

"What'd you say, dear?" Jackie answered in an unnaturally thick, syrupy-sweet voice. 

"Mum?" Rose scowled, recognizing her mother's 'I am hiding something' voice. Jackie averted her eyes, unable to meet her daughter's look. 

"I know when you are lying. You did something to my phone. Didn't you?" Rose's voice quivered. "You did something!" In a panic, Rose pulled up the incoming and outgoing call log. It was blank. "You— you erased everything! Every contact! Every phone call! Everything that has anything to do with the Doctor! You just— erased him!" 

There was one more thing to try. She dialed voice mail in a rush. "Oh please, oh please, oh please! Still be there!" She hugged her body with her free arm and spun around facing away from her mother, hoping desperately. 

"Rose, where are you? I told you not to wander off!" her Doctor's gruff Northern voice met her ear. "Just one rule. Don't wander off. And what do you do? Every time.” And then his voice softened. "Just— meet us at the TARDIS as soon as you can. All right? I worry about you. Don't really like you off shopping without me. Alien bazaar after all. Lots of shady sorts. I'm here, aren't I?" He laughed quietly. "Please come back to the TARDIS. Please? Oh, there you are, never mind. Rose!" His voice returned to its original roughness. "Where the hell have been? How come you haven't been answering…” The message ended. Rose slowly removed the phone from her ear and turned towards her mother. 

"We need to get home. People are going barmy. Look at 'em!" Jackie finally looked at Rose and saw fury in her daughter's eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rose didn't answer. 

"Don't you dare look at me like that young lady. I am your mother! I know what is best for you! He was no good for you! He got you k— almost got you killed!" 

"You had no right." Rose closed her eyes and punctuated each word as she reverently put her mobile in her pocket. "We'll talk about this later. But right now, we need to get to Ten Downing. Maybe PM Jones will let us in.” 

"Taxi!" Rose whistled and waved wildly. Miraculously, as if sent just for them, one stopped. 

"He's dressed awful odd," Jackie nudged Rose who sneered back angrily. 

The driver turned to look through the window. 

Rose's face changed from anger to suspicion as she saw his grinning metal Santa mask. 

"Run Mum!" 

"But Rose, we-" 

"Trust me!" Rose shoved her mother away from the taxi. 

The screaming, teeming masses of panicking Londoners came to a halt as for one terrifying moment, all eyes were trained on the sky as a hulking asteroid cast a shadow over half of the city. 

_Chapter End Notes_

Sycoraxic: 

"...Codrafee Sycora. Condrafee gassac tel dashfellik." 

"We are the Sycorax. We stride the darkness." 


	6. Five

## Chapter Five 

UNIT security was now elevated to the highest alert: Gamma. The move was unprecedented. About half an hour before, without warning, staff members simply stood up from where they were seated, went catatonic, and left their posts, desks and stations. 

These men and women stood on the parapets of the Tower of London. They were perched silent, staring, unresponsive, poised to jump to their deaths. Throughout London, reports were rolling in of similar pilgrimages to the highest points of the city. 

The Doctor leaned heavily against the counter. He propped his head in his hand distorting his face as he stared at the screen through his black-rimmed spectacles. The image of the threatening creature was frozen, mouth open, teeth bared, staring back at him from the large computer screen. 

"So who are you? Who could you possibly be? Think, think, think."

"You don't recognize this species?" Captain Erisa Magambo asked. Her eyes showed worry. 

"Nope." He put his hands into his pockets and pulled a face as he stared at the screen. "Ugly fella, isn't he?" 

A corporal approached Magambo. "Captain, the head count has been completed. About a third of UNIT is affected, ma'am." 

"Any key people?" 

"Yes ma'am. Chief linguist, a historian, several specialized weapons officers, and General Sullivan among others." 

"Thank you corporal. I want security on the roof in case there are any— changes in behavior." Magambo set her jaw. 

"Yes ma'am." The corporal left.

"Ma'am, a new report from Torchwood." An army sergeant handed her an open laptop computer. 

"Doctor, what do you make of this?" Captain Magambo beckoned the Doctor to her side. 

He ran his hand through his hair, willing his brain to come up with some answers as he perused the report. "One-third of the world's population? Not just local then. All on the move, heading up to rooftops, standing at the edge of cliffs, on high bridges. Non-responsive, as if hypnotized or in some sort of trance. Blue glow. What could possibly be going on?" 

A woman called from the bank of computers beyond. "Ma'am, the Royals are on the roof of Buckingham Palace. The entire family." 

"Come on people! Figure this out!" Captain Magambo ordered. 

"Royal family, hmmm? What about the others. What do they have in common with each other?” He snapped his fingers. “Pull up some of their medical reports!" The Doctor bounded down the aisle to the woman who had reported the news of the royal family. 

The analyst looked pulled up medical reports of several of the UNIT victims. 

"Sheila Johnson, age 43, married, mother of two, appendicitis two years ago, blood type A positive, broke her ankle in a bicycle accident last year. William Suzuki, age 29, single, no health problems, vegetarian, blood type A positive, allergic to penicillin. Elizabeth O'Reilly, age 36, single, diabetic, blood type A positive. A positive blood. A positive blood! Quick! Create an employee query by blood type A positive." 

The analyst typed, and the query findings appeared. She sent the report to the printer, and the Doctor ran to retrieve it, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited. He quickly lost his patience due to the slow network connection, so he pulled out his sonic and aimed it at the printer. It immediately spit out the list. He grabbed the printout and ran back to Captain Magambo. 

"I think you will find that everyone on this list is also up on the roof," the Doctor pronounced with confidence. 

She scanned quickly. "You are right." 

"Blood control." 

"What's blood control?" she asked. 

"Cheap voodoo. Trickery. Ancient mind control. Great for terrifying victims, but ultimately, easily overcome." 

“I— I think this may be my fault." A small man in a suit stood up, and made his way from the front of the room. "Professor Daniel Llewellyn. " He extended his hand in greeting. "I am the project manager for the Guinevere One space probe. I placed a capsule of earth relics on board the probe, including—“ He blinked slowly. “Including a vial of human blood. A positive blood." 

The Doctor half-smiled and looked Captain Magambo squarely in the eye. He put his hand into his pocket, slowly withdrew his sonic and extended it overhead. With the push of a button, the silver tool began to glow, a blue beacon, pulsing, whirring. "I'm ringing their doorbell." 

Almost immediately, he was ensconced in blue light, and in a glowing whoosh, he disappeared.

oOo 

Rose and Jackie ran from the taxi towards a slow moving crowd. Dozens of people were walking towards the footpath that would eventually lead to Tower Bridge. Alongside many of the dazed walkers, loved-ones, co-workers, and complete strangers joined the victims, trying in vain to stop their slow march. 

Ahead of Rose and Jackie, a Christmas band began to play. Slowly, ominously, they marched to a mournful rendition of _God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen_. Step-by-step, they advanced closer and closer to mother and daughter. 

"Rose! Look! They're dressed just like that scary cab bloke!" 

"We need to go the other way! Come on!" Rose screamed, snapping her mother the other direction. Jackie dropped the bottle of wine she still clutched, and it hit the pavement with a muffled crash, the red liquid bleeding through the brown paper bag. 

Together, they ran east down the middle of The Highway, which was littered with abandoned vehicles, clogged with the slowly walking people, terrified tag-a-longs, and panicking Londoners. 

Jackie was breathing very hard now. She had slowed significantly. “Thought we were going to Harriet Jones’s?” Jackie asked. 

“Can’t now. I just feel like this is the right way to go. Please trust me." 

Twenty feet ahead, a small explosion rocked a rubbish bin. Jackie screamed and Rose turned around and saw that the brass band members had transformed their instruments into weapons, aimed at them. 

"What do they want from us? Why are they trying to kill us?" Jackie cried in terror. 

"I don't know! I don't even know if they’re after us!" 

"They ain't shooting at anybody else, Rose!" 

"I know that!" she growled. "Just trying not to think about them!” Rose continued to drag her exhausted mother along. 

"I can't Rose! I just can't go on any more!" Jackie stopped and tearfully panted, exhausted. 

"You can, and you will!" Rose grabbed her mother by the shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes. "Keep going or you are gonna get blown to pieces! Do you understand?" 

"Take cover!" A man's barking voice yelled in their direction as two men dressed in black grabbed them and pulled them violently out of the way. 

Jackie screamed as they were thrown to the rough pavement, their bodies shielded by the strangers. 

"Rose Tyler?" An impeccable man in a finely-tailored grey three-piece suit called to her from a nearby blacked-out SUV. 

"Yeah? That's me, but I'm sorta busy right now being chased by scary robot Santas." Rose nervously looked over her shoulder, just to see the four Santas disappear in a glow of blue light. She turned back towards the man in grey. A group of armed men dressed similarly to the group who had grabbed them were standing around a second, identical vehicle. 

"You will come with us." 

"Yeah you and whose army?" Jackie Tyler wriggled herself free from the man who had thrown her to safety, and stood between Rose and the well-groomed man in the SUV. 

Before they could get an explanation, Rose and Jackie were grabbed from behind. 

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!" protested Rose as she wiggled, squirmed and kicked. 

"What are you doing to my daughter? Get your hands off of my Rose!" 

Quickly, they found themselves inside of one of the ominous darkened vehicles, only to be greeted by the last person in the world Rose thought she would ever see. 

"Hiya Rosie! I saw those robot Santas shooting at you. Couldn't just drive by while my best girl was turned into Swiss cheese, now could I?" 

"Jack?" 

oOo 

The Doctor found himself inside of a rocky, crude-looking ship. He looked up and surveyed the cavernous space. Hundreds of angry beings lined the walls of the interior amphitheater. Their deafening shouts bounced around the cave-like walls, mixing with the loud clanking of their staffs and spears. 

One warrior emerged from the crowd. He had the bearing and stature of their leader, and held a vicious looking whip. Conveniently, the TARDIS decided to end her language translation strike. 

"You dare to board our vessel." The lone man spat his words through razor sharp teeth. 

"I didn't board anything. I rang you up, and you sent a car 'round. Now be a good host and offer me some tea and cake. I'm starving!" The Doctor scrunched his face as he studied his surroundings.

The warrior unfurled his whip and cracked it at the Doctor who grabbed the end with his bare hand, yanked it away and snapped the handle in two across his brown-striped knee. 

"Who are you and why have you come to this planet?" He was fierce, fire burning in his eyes. 

"Sycorax strong! Sycorax mighty! Sycorax rock!" The multitude erupted in thunderous cheers and shouts. 

"Sycrorax eh? Hmm. Never heard of 'em," he declared rudely. "Guess you aren't as strong, mighty, and rocking as you claim." 

The leader spat a string of words.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" 

A low rumbling growl grew in the leader's throat as he bared his teeth. "Do you speak for this planet?" asked the leader. 

"Well, I don't know about that. They have pretty strong opinions as to who represents them." 

"Who are you?" the hideous man growled. 

"I'm the Doctor." He smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets. 

"The Doctor? You? The mighty Doctor? Killer of his own kind? Jalvaan, col chack chiff!" 

"Surrender or I will die? Not likely. You still haven't answered my second question. Why are you here?" 

"We claim this planet. We possess the land, the minerals, the precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock." 

"Yeah I get that you think you rock," he mumbled to himself, but then spoke clearly. "Who will die? 

"One third of the people of this weak planet will die and the rest will be enslaved!" 

"Sycorax! Sycorax! Sycorax!" chanted the miniions.

oOo 

"He claims to be the Doctor? That man is not my Doctor. _My_ Doctor looked and sounded completely different!" Prime Minister Harriet Jones said via video conference.

"Madam Prime Minister, I assure you, he is the Doctor. We have the irrefutable word of Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart that the man whose picture you see on your computer screen is indeed, the Doctor. He has changed his face before. He must have been forced to regenerate recently." Captain Magambo nodded.

"Well then. If the Brigadier is convinced, who am I to argue? Where is the Doctor now?" Harriet Jones asked.

"He signaled aliens with his infamous sonic screwdriver. And within seconds he disappeared in a glow of blue light,” the Captain explained.

"Teleported onto their ship I suppose.” Jones held her hands on her desk.

"That is a safe assumption." Magambo agreed.

"Has the Director of Torchwood been briefed?" the Prime Minister asked. 

"Yes Ma'am. However, per your standing orders, Director Hartman has not been notified of the Doctor's involvement." 

"Good. The last thing we need is an interagency turf war over their standing arrest warrant.” Harriet sighed. “And the weapon?" 

"Director Hartman has assured me that they are prepared to fire should it become necessary to defend ourselves." 

"Fine." Harriet Jones cut off the Captain. "I will be addressing the nation in a few minutes. Is it safe to say that we are defended? Does this Doctor appear to be capable?" 

"Yes ma'am. I believe he is."  
"And I may reassure our citizens that their loved ones are safe?" 

"I don't know the answer to that, Madam Prime Minister."

"Fair enough."

The private transmission between Ten Downing Street and UNIT headquarters flickered and ended.

oOo 

“Hiya Rosie!”

"Jack Harkness? I—! You—! What are—? How—? You're alive! In London! In 2005!" Rose dove from the back seat through the gap over the center console. She planted a kiss on her friend's lips, and then embraced him tightly, her body bent at an awkward angle — half in the back seat, half in the front. 

"Oh Rosie, it is so good to see you! What happened? Where’s the Doctor?” 

Rose let go and climbed back into the second row. 

"Rose, who is that man?" Jackie asked as she pointed a shaking hand at a very broadly smiling Jack. 

"Mum, this is Captain Jack Harkness. Jack, this is my mum, Jackie Tyler. Jack here travelled with me and the Doctor. He was with us out there when— on— the day— that..." Rose’s voice trailed off.

“But he's your friend, then?" Jackie asked.

"The best, Mum."

Jack smiled at that. “Oh, it's good to see you, Rose. Never thought I’d see your gorgeous face again. Those Daleks — they’re sure a piece of work.” 

“Yeah, and those Dalek things hurt her real bad,” Jackie interrupted. "The Doctor did the right thing, bringing her back to me. Took my Rose _weeks_ to recover. Doesn't remember much of anything that happened. Been about four weeks now since he brought her back home to me. She's only now on the mend." 

"So you _aren’t_ here with him? Do you know if he is up there?" Jack pointed through the roof of the vehicle. 

"I don't know, Jack. My TARDIS key isn't warm. Hasn't glowed once since he dropped me off." Rose put her hand to her chest.

"So now that you're all healed up, why aren't you back with him?” Jack asked.

Rose looked down at her fingernails. "We're not travelling together anymore. I haven't seen him since that day. He left me Jack. Didn't even say goodbye. I really don't want to talk about it." 

"Rose, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Looks like we're in the same boat, then." 

"S'okay. You didn't know." Rose shook her head and shrugged her shoulders in resignation. "So he just left you up there too? In the future? With no way off of the station?” Rose frowned and shook her head.

"Yeah." Jack looked out the window. His jaw was set, angry. 

"So what are you doing in London? How did you survive the Daleks? I figured everyone got killed." Rose sniffed.

_She doesn’t know anything_ Jack thought to himself. He looked into the rear view mirror to see that Rose’s mother, Jackie Tyler, was shooting him daggers with her eyes. "Naw, couple old Dalek's couldn't get me! Isn’t the first time I’ve cheated death," he laughed. 

"I hitched a ride back to earth with a wayward Time Agent and I’ve been hanging out here for a while. Was hired by Torchwood a while back. I'm assigned to Cardiff but was here in London for a meeting. Got sent out with these nice people. All hands on deck. You know, big spaceship in the sky and all. Ianto,” he turned to the driver. “Let’s get these two ladies to safety.“ 

Jack stopped his nervous ramble. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. Rose Tyler, meet Ianto Jones. Ianto is a researcher here at Torchwood One down at Canary Wharf. He was driving me to the airport when the shit hit the fan." 

"Very nice to meet you ma'am. I have heard nothing but good things about you and the Doctor. Never thought I would meet you in person." 

“You’ve heard about me and the Doctor?” Rose raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve heard of my daughter?” Jackie piggybacked Rose’s question.

The large hatch lifted, and two people dressed in black battle gear crawled in back and sat on jumpsuits. One pounded the wall, and the driver took off. 

"Nice to meet you too, Ianto. But how do you even know who I am?" Rose asked. 

"Don't play coy Dame Tyler," Jack teased. "We know all about you and Sir Doctor of TARDIS. You cheeky things! Insulting Queen Victoria like that. The Doctor doesn't surprise me, but I didn't know you had it in you!" Then he saw the confused look on her face. 

Rose shook her head. "No idea what you're talkin' about. He never took me to meet Queen Victoria." 

_Damn timelines. Scotland hasn't happened to them yet._ Jack pulled out a small black notebook from a pocket. He flipped through the pages. He nodded and flicked a finger at the page. "Never mind. Forget I said a thing.” He shoved the book back into his pocket and cursed. 

"What are you going on about? Dame Tyler? That don't make any sense? I'm confused." 

"It's the damn timelines," Jack muttered. “I need to learn to keep my big fat mouth shut.”

"Jack?" She asked, drawing out his name.

"I've said too much." 

"Jack, what’s this Torchwood place you’re working for?” Rose asked.

“I can’t say.” Jack cringed.

“You can, and you will.” Rose leaned through the gap between the front seats.

Jack thought for a moment. ”The Torchwood Institute was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria.”

“And before you said that me and the Doctor, we insulted Queen Victoria. You said me _and_ the Doctor did that.” 

Jack smirked. ”Its prime directive is to defend the earth against extraterrestrial threats."

“Stop avoiding my question. You said me and the Doctor. You know something, Jack Harkness!”

_Not saying a thing, not saying a thing_

Rose thought for a moment. “Only reason you would be muttering about timelines is if—“ She gasped. "It hasn't happened yet. Jack, I'm going to be reunited with him aren't I?" She squeezed his arm. "Tell me Jack! Am I going to be reunited with the Doctor? What does your notebook say?" 

"You know I can't tell you that, sweetheart. First rule of Time Agent training: 'Protect the secrets that the future holds.'" 

"I bloody don't care what your stupid first rule says! Tell me Jack! Tell me!" 

Jackie interrupted. "So who are those robot Santas and what is that big spaceship doing over London?" 

Jack ignored Rose's pleading eyes. "Don't know a whole lot, Jackie. The Torchwood bigwigs aren't sharing much with us peons. Just been told to patrol the streets, keep people safe. We know it is extraterrestrial, and they call themselves Sycorax. Really ugly. And you know me Rose, I'm pretty open-minded in the looks department. These guys are _ug-uh-lee._ Last update about was about ten minutes ago. About a third of the world's population is under some sort of a spell or hypnosis." 

Ianto continued. "They are standing on the edge of roofs, cliffs, up on bridges, like they are waiting to be told to jump. We think the Sycorax are controlling them somehow." 

"Whaddya mean under a spell?" Jackie perked up. "Are they gonna turn into an army or something?" 

"I don't know, Mrs. Tyler.” 

Jackie caught his smile in the rear view mirror. ”Mrs. Tyler is my mother-in-law. Please. Call me Jackie." She fiddled with her collar. 

"Don't mind if I do, Jackie.” Jack smiled and winked. 

"Mum!" Rose silently mouthed exasperation at her mother's flirting. "Jack, I'm not letting you off. Am I, or am I not, going to be reunited with the Doctor in the future? Please. I need to know." She closed her eyes and waited for his answer, twisting the sleek fabric of her coat in her hands. 


	7. Six

## Chapter Six 

“Please tell me Jack, I _need_ to know. You don’t know what I’ve been through this last month.” She closed her eyes and waited for his answer. “It’s been hell, Jack.”

No one spoke for two blocks. The silence was heavy, the multiple layers of tension sizzled and popped. 

The hurt and anger Rose felt towards Jackie.

The frustration Rose felt from Jack's evasiveness.

The distrust that Jackie held for Jack. 

Ianto’s headset squawked and a muffled command broke the silence. "Affirmative," he replied. "Jack, we have been recalled back to the Tower." 

Ianto performed an impressive 180 degree manoeuvre. He dodged catatonic walkers, abandoned vehicles, and terrified citizens as he increased the speed of the SUV. 

"Sorry Rosie. Have to go back to HQ before I get you someplace safe. Wanna have a slumber party tonight at Torchwood? I could braid your hair and do your nails. You really need to stop picking at them dear, they are a mess." 

"Jack, stop avoiding my questions,” Rose repeated. 

Jack looked out the window and up at the skyline. Rose and Jackie craned their necks as well. Thousands of people stood on the rooftops, poised on the razor's edge.

Rose released a heavy sigh and fell back into her seat.

“The thing is Rose, you know how it is. Timelines are fickle. I don’t want to mess anything up. If I tell you something that you aren’t supposed to know, you might change your mind about something, and what is supposed to happen won’t, and what isn’t supposed to happen will, and—“

“Jack! Stop it! I know all of this! I just need some hope! Please!” Rose buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

“Oh not this again.” Jackie crossed her arms.

Jack closed his eyes. “Oh, I am so gonna regret this aren’t I? Yeah. You and he— the two of you travel again." He growled and shook his head. "I can't believe I just told you. The Agency would have been sent to prison for life for telling you that, you know. Only reason I’m saying anything is because I’m working for Torchwood, and I’m pretty sure it’s a fixed point, and if the earth splinters into about a million pieces in a couple of seconds, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.” 

Jackie glared at Jack, her hands clenched, itching to hit something or someone. 

"When?" Rose asked Jack quietly, almost timid. 

"I don't know sweetheart. I'm sorry. All I know is that the official Torchwood record indicates the two of you go back in time to Scotland - to the Torchwood Estate - and you save Queen Victoria from a werewolf-like alien." 

"Wolf again. What is it with me and wolves?" Rose mumbled as she looked out the window. 

“Yeah. All that Bad Wolf stuff. Remember in Cardiff? And on Satellite Five? I always wondered if there was a connection, too. Anyway, the Queen knighted the two of you and then exiled you both. She saw the Doctor as a threat. She was a rather open-minded woman for her day, and she figured out quickly that the Doctor was an alien, and because the werewolf was an alien, he became an enemy by association. And so, the Torchwood Institute was born." 

Rose laughed softly as she wiped away a stray tear. "At least it wasn't because we broke her crown or something.” 

Jack laughed and turned around to look at her properly. "Hey, hey, sweetheart, why are you crying?" His words were kind, and Rose started crying harder. 

"Here we go again with the waterworks," Jackie said rudely. "Rose, pull yourself together. Jack here seems to have done well for himself. He was left by the Doctor too. All the way in the future no less! That is a helluva lot worse than being brought home to your mother who loves you." 

"Jackie, I don't mean to be forward, but I don't think you fully understand what Rose has gone through." 

"I know what's best for my own daughter, Mr. Harkness. That alien git, he was no good for her!" 

"Now wait a minute," he put his hands up defensively, "I'm not saying you don't know what's best for Rose, but you don't know the half of it. Your daughter saved the future itself, ma'am, and so much more. Your daughter saved the Doctor's life, and saved mine." 

"How did I save your life? How did I save the Doctor's? I must've really been hit hard on the head up there not to remember any of that.” 

"I'm sure it's nothing you need to know Rose, so just put it out of your head. The past is the past and all that. Or future. Or whatever! It doesn't matter! Just forget about him!" Jackie pled desperately. 

"I have had enough of people trying to control me!" Rose yelled. "Jack, Mum, that goes for you both of you! I am tired of people trying to keep me safe! Keeping secrets from me 'cos you think I somehow can't handle the truth! And he was the worst of you! First he sent me back here! And then I went _back_ to him and apparently saved his life, but I have no memory of it happening! And what do I get? He doesn't thank me. Noooo! He dumps me at my mum's! Doesn't even so much as leave me a note. Not even a goodbye and then— then— then— Jack. I thought he loved me. I thought he did." 

"Oh Rose, he _does_ love you. If there is one thing that I know, the Doctor loves Rose Tyler. No one else ever had a chance." He smiled softly. "But there is a lot more to this that you don't know. But it isn't the time or the place to tell you." 

"What do you mean? More to tell?”

"Jack, no. Don't you dare! Don't you dare tell her!" Jackie leaned as far forward as her seatbelt would allow before restraining her. 

"What haven't you told me, Mum? And why would Jack know some secret _you’ve_ been keepin' from me? You don't know each other. What the bloody hell is going on? The two of you, you are scaring me." Rose slumped down into the black leather seat and hugged herself. 

Jack began to explain. "Well, the thing is, sweetheart-" 

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Jack, but there is the matter of the Charter. Dame Tyler of the Powell Estate? To be arrested on sight?" Ianto reminded Jack. 

"Yeah, well they may know the name Rose Tyler, but they don't have a picture or even a sketch. It'll be all right. Leave it to me. Her name could just be a coincidence, right? Besides, the Doctor isn't here. There's nothing to tie her to him. She's just a girl with a pretty name. I know I can count on you to keep our secret, right Ianto? We’ve become pretty good friends, right? 'Cos I have access to Retcon, and I am not afraid to use it." 

Ianto nodded and swallow hard.

”Good. I'm glad that we understand each other," Jack declared with an overly cheery smile. 

They arrived at Torchwood Tower, and Ianto halted the SUV to wait for the rolling gate to slowly retract, and then drove the vehicle into the underground car park. 

"But just to be safe, Rose, you are now Daisy Miller. Jackie, you’re her aunt, Millicent Miller. Got it?" 

"Daisy?" 

"Millicent?" 

The women looked at each other and groaned in unison as the vehicle slid into the depths of the building. 

With surprising ease, Jack passed Rose and Jackie through security without any identification. "We rescued these ladies on The Avenue. They were being attacked by suspected alien ground forces. I need to process the video of the incident. They seemed to have been singled out, so I believe it would be a good idea if they were interviewed and protected until we know why they were targeted." 

"All right Harkness, take them up to guest services." 

“Do I think I would like to have a lie down? I mean if you wouldn't mind. Is there someplace I could rest for a while? I certainly didn't expect to spend Christmas Eve in some bloody office building,” Jackie said.

“I’ll take you someplace quiet Ms. Miller." Ianto indicated for Jackie to follow him to a lounge, but she ignored him. "Ms. Miller? Are you coming?" 

"Mum," Rose whispered, "that's you. You're Millicent Miller!" 

"Oh. Right," she whined. "Of all the daft names. Millie Miller." 

oOo 

"Hello, what is that?" The Doctor pointed dramatically past the head of the Sycrorax leader. He bounded up a few stairs onto a raised dais. He briefly stared at a glowing dome.

The commander growled deep in his throat, but did not approach the man who had foiled his deadly whip. 

Without a second thought, the Doctor plunged a finger into the liquid, swirled it around a bit and then put the finger into his mouth. He shuddered, pulled a face, and wiggled his tongue in disgust. "Blood control? Really? Sort of anachronistic to be perfectly frank. Scares the pants of everyone, to be sure." He dropped his incredulity and took on a lecturing and superior tone. "But you know very well that you can't hypnotize someone to death. I'm a bit disappointed in you lot. Really, now." 

"Step away or I will-" 

"Or you'll what? Push the button?" He hovered his own hands over the big, glowing, red button with a gleam in his eye. 

"You dare defy me?" The Sycrorax leader growled and blustered. "What kind of man dares to defy the mighty Sycrorax!" 

"I DON'T KNOW!" he growled right back at the man theatrically. "See the thing is, I really don't know what kind of man I am! It's all untested." He stepped away from the button and put one hand in his pocket, waved the other in the air and began his soliloquy. "You are the first challenging thing that I have encountered since well, _New New Me_. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I gonna react when I see this? A great big threatening button. A Great Big Threatening Button Which Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances. Am I right?" 

The leader snarled. 

"But I think— I think that if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never Ever Be Pressed, then I just wanna do this." The Doctor bounded back to the button and hit it hard. "So big fella, are they dead, hmmm?" 

"We— allow them to live." 

"Allow?" he mocked. "Ha!" 

"I could summon the armada and take this world by force!" he thundered and the warriors shouted their approval. 

"Well, I suppose you could do that, but why? Look at them. They're just reaching out to the stars. Taking their first feeble baby steps." The look on his face changed from sympathetic to deadly serious. "Leave them alone." 

"Or what?" 

"I challenge you." He straightened to his full height and looked around the amphitheater as the room erupted in mocking laughter. "Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?" 

"You stand as this world's champion?" 

"You just summed me up." The Doctor grabbed a sword from a guard standing near, holding it up. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a _cranak pel casacree salvak_?" 

The leader hissed again but knelt in agreement to the universal warrior code, as did the Doctor. "For the planet," the commander growled.

"For the planet!" the Doctor proclaimed 

oOo 

"Jack, apparently the crisis has just ended. Without any warning, everyone affected shook it off and simply stepped away from the edge. No one remembers a thing,” Ianto reported. 

"Just like that? Huh. Interesting." 

"Hey? What's going on?" Rose asked as people scurried around to huddle around monitors and television screens. 

"There's some bloke up on the spaceship having a duel with that ugly alien. It's on the satellite feed." A woman beckoned them to her large monitor. 

"When did it start, Lisa?" Ianto asked. 

"About a minute ago. You gotta watch! He's got some moves.” Lisa grabbed Ianto's hand and squeezed. 

"How the hell did he get up there?" Jack asked no one in particular. 

The visual feed was crystal clear. 

"Gotta love this satellite camera. Did you know that we can look right through someone's bedroom window? You wouldn't believe the stuff that people do. Well, I would, but you wouldn't, Rosie." He nudged her with his elbow, hoping to lighten her mood. 

"Jack! I recognize that guy! I watched him have an argument with a cop on Tower Bridge. I'd remember him anywhere he looked right at me. Looked like he'd seen a ghost... Really handsome bloke, great hair and wearing that flash suit. He was all upset because he was stuck in traffic and he had a meeting with the Prime Minister he had to make, and then he abandoned his fancy new hybrid. Left it right there on the bridge. Jack... I swore I heard a sonic screwdriver and then he just... ran off." 

Jack stared at the screen. 

"Did you just say you heard a sonic?" 

"I really thought I did. Maybe he's a time agent? Like you were?" she asked. 

"I don't recognize him. Besides, no time agent would be caught dead with a sonic screwdriver. Not enough fire power." 

"He isn't anyone from Torchwood that I've worked with," Lisa interjected. "Do you recognize him love?" 

"No, I am sure I have never seen him," Ianto answered with a shake of his head. 

"No one here looks like that - devastatingly handsome, great hair, nicely dressed - except for Ianto and me, of course," Jack grinned. "There's UNIT, but they are all military types, again, that rules out the hair. They are pretty uptight over there." 

"What's UNIT?" asked Rose. 

"United Intelligence Taskforce. They are similar to Torchwood in purpose, but different in style. Very different. They are a military organisation while we are more of a corporate structure. We report directly to the Prime Minister Jones, they report through military channels." He screwed up his face. "Torchwood and UNIT don't play well together. He could be some sort of contractor or freelancer, though. They've been known to hire out speciality jobs." 

Rose gasped along with everyone else watching and grabbed Jack's arm. "He's down! He'll be killed!" 

The collective breaths of everyone in the room were held as they saw the gruesome foe bring down his sword and lop off the man's right hand. Rose buried her face in Jack's shoulder, but looked back at the screen when everyone gasped a second time as the man jumped right back up and stood boldly on the brink of nothingness. 

"Did he just... did he just grow his hand back?" Jack gaped at the screen. "Rose? Did I see that right?" She didn't answer; instead, her hands released their vice-like grip of his arm and she collapsed onto the plush carpet. But before her closed, lost to unconsciousness, Jack swore he saw pools of gold swirling in her irises. 

"They're goin' at it again!" Someone cheered from the far side of the room as the onlookers once again watched with rapt attention. 

"Someone call a medic!" Jack called out, and Lisa left her station to kneel next to Rose. She pulled out her mobile and summoned Torchwood medical to the 18th floor. 

Rose's eyes fluttered open and she grabbed her head. "Oh not the headache again," she moaned as her eyes closed once more, though clearly no longer unconscious. 

"Just lie still sweetheart, you're going to be okay." Jack stroked her hair out of her face and held her hand, while craning his neck to watch the duel in the sky. 

The mystery man pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at the wall of the ship. The structure below the alien disappeared from sight, and the alien fell to his death. 

"Who's on call down in alien autopsy tonight? Someone's going to miss Christmas Eve dinner," Jack quipped and laughed to himself. 

"Look at that! He's got that same blue glow about him... it's the same glow everyone who was hypnotized got right before they went up on the roof," reported Lisa. 

As soon as the blue glow engulfed him completely, the mystery man disappeared from sight. 

"Well would you look at that. They have a teleport beam. Pretty damn Spock for a spaceship that looks like a flying asteroid." 

Moments after he disappeared, the ship slowly turned, aimed itself upwards and removed itself from the skies of London. 

The medics arrived soon thereafter and loaded Rose onto a gurney. Jack insisted he accompany his "witness" in case the fainting was an aftereffect of her contact with the aliens. 

Of course, Jack knew otherwise. This was no aftereffect of alien contact. He'd seen that golden glow before. Even if it had never been visible to the particular murderer, assassin, alien goon or assailant who had taken one of his numerous lives, he'd seen it. It was the same golden glow that flashed before his own eyes him each and every time he was ripped from death's greedy hands. 

ooOooOoo 

"Harriet Jones, Prime Minister former MP from Flydale North!" The Doctor opened his arms wide and gave the PM a warm hug of greeting. 

"My Doctor! I didn't believe Captain Magambo from UNIT, you know, when I saw your picture. But here you are. New face, but the very same man, and you have saved us all again. My dear, dear man." She hugged him again. 

"Awww, come on now, surely you would have have believed it was me?" 

Prime Minister Jones grinned and nodded. "Now, where's your sweet Rose. I need to give her a hug too." 

The Doctor's face fell.  
"No. She's not..."  
"Yes. I'm afraid she is. I lost her about a month ago. Same time that I regenerated." "Oh, I'm so sorry, Doctor. I really am. She was so brave and good." 

"Thank you, Harriet Jones. Your words mean more to me than you know." He sniffed and breathed in, and put on fake smile. "Now. About that big ugly bit of alien ugliness. No denying it now. All of London saw it... Whole world did even. Can't deny the existence of alien life anymore." 

"Are there many more out there?" 

"Hundreds of species. Thousands of 'em. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. This planet's so noisy... probes, messages, signals... You had better get used to visitors arriving for dinner unexpectedly. No doubt the Sycorax will tell of the riches to be found on earth." 

"Ma'am." A trim man politely interrupted the Prime Minister's conversation with the Doctor. "Torchwood says they are ready." 

Harriet Jones breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. She straightened her back. "Doctor, are all of them so aggressive? Will they all want to harm us?" 

"Naw, you just met with some rotten apples the first time. But on the whole most people out there are friendly; some are shy; some are funny; some rude... sort of like me," he laughed. "Not so different from humans, really." 

"But are we at risk, Doctor?" 

"There are those who would wish to do much worse than simply pillage and enslave. Much worse." 

She turned back to her aide and nodded grimly, her eyes closed tightly shut. "Tell them to fire." She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. 

An eerie hissing sound filled the air, and the individual hairs on the back of the Doctors hands stood on end as the electrical field built and coalesced. Five columns of green energy from five separate points surrounding the spot where they stood near the Tower of London met, creating a deadly five point star, joined in the middle and reached out through the atmosphere into space. A small fireball was seen far in the sky as the departing Sycorax ship disintegrated into a billion pieces. 

"What did you do?" The Doctor looked from the Prime Minister to the sky and back to Harriet Jones. 

"Doctor, Britain is ready to defend itself from all threats. We were lucky you were here to save us, but there is only one of you, and we won't be able to rely on you always." 

"That was murder!" The Doctor hissed the judgement.  
"That was defense! Adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to earth ten years ago." "But they were leaving." He violently thrust a pointed finger at the sky. 

"You said it yourself Doctor, they would go back to the stars and tell others about the earth... That there are others out there who would wish to harm us gravely. You aren't here all the time. You come and go. We have to defend ourselves." 

"I gave them the wrong warning Prime Minister. I should have warned them about you... the dangerous apes of planet earth." He spat his words through curled lips. 

"Does that make you another alien threat, Doctor?" 

"Don't challenge me Harriet Jones, because I am a completely new man. I am not afraid to stand up to the likes of you. I could bring down your government with a single word." 

"You are the most remarkable man I have ever met, but I don't think that even you are capable of that." 

"No, you're right. Not a single word. Just six." The Doctor walked to the aide and whispered into his ear. The man shot a curious glance at the Prime Minister and then the Doctor simply walked away, in search of his blue Prius. 

oOo 

He was tired. He was hungry. He wanted a cup of tea. But most of all, he was lonely and he wanted to go home... well, he wanted to go to what currently served as his home, because it was all he had, and it would have to do for now. 

The Doctor pressed the small button on his keyfob, and with a chirp, the Blue Prius door unlocked. He reached out his new right hand - "It's a fightin' hand!" he'd bragged - and pulled open the door. He slid into the car with a sigh and wrapped his hands around the steering wheel, and just sat for a moment in the darkness of the car park. 

The very moment the Syrocorax warrior's sword had sliced through the flesh, bone and sinew of his wrist, a golden surge of vortex energy had engulfed his mind and body, triggering a massive cellular growth spurt. He had heard her voice. He was sure of it. "I want you safe, my Doctor." 


	8. Seven

## Chapter Seven

Rose felt an uncomfortable tightness on the thin skin of the back of her left hand. She shifted her heavy-as-lead arm and felt something attached to it. With great effort, she lifted her head and willed herself to open her eyes noting an IV line filled with a pale blue fluid dripping from a bag that was just within her line of vision. She groaned and brought her free hand to her aching head. 

“Hey Sweetheart, how you doing? You feeling okay?” 

“Jack? Is that you, or are am I dreamin’? What’s goin’ on?” She groaned as she tried to sit up, but instead, fell back on the pillows with a thud. “Oh my head!” 

“You passed out.” Jack conveniently left the part out about her glowing eyes. “You’ve been sedated so that your vital signs could be normalized. Do you remember where you are?” 

“Uh...” she swallowed hard. “Yeah. Now I do. Torchwood you called it, right?” Her voice was hoarse and strained. “Where’s Mum?” 

“Your _sister_ you mean? You’re confused darlin’. Millie, your sister, she’s in the waiting room. She’s worried sick.” Jack winked at her, and she nodded in understanding. 

Rose feigned confusion for a moment, her face softening as she closed her eyes and draped her forearm over her head. “Can I see Millie? That's her name, right?” she asked, eyes still closed. 

“Sure. I’ll just go get her.” Jack stood up slowly from the hard plastic guest chair where he had planted himself since Rose had been wheeled into the infirmary. He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Don’t you go wandering off, okay?” He grinned, and his dimples appeared endearingly. He pushed the curtain aside and left to retrieve Jackie. The fabric rustled and the metal gliders scraped quietly in their track in his wake. 

“Right. No wandering off.” She smiled dimly and settled further into the pillow with a sigh. The clock on the wall and the blackness of night as framed by the small window to right indicated that it was 12:45 am. 

He found Jackie sitting in a typical waiting area looking at a five year old gossip magazine. He slowly sat down next to her. 

“Millie,” he winked, “Daisy is awake. She's coming out of the sedation. They need to keep her vitals steady for her own protection while the doctor tries to figure out why she collapsed. But I need to ask you a few questions, all right? 

"Sure darlin', ask away." She tossed the magazine back onto the side table. 

"Have you noticed anything odd about Daisy since she has been home?” 

“Other than the fact that she’s a right brute and moodier than a sixteen year old with PMT?” 

“That’s not what I mean, Jackie," he mouthed her name. "She’s been through a lot. Give her some time. She lost the man she thought she’d be with forever. You know that.” 

“I don’t want to talk about him.” Jackie turned away and looked at a serene painting of ducks on a country pond hanging on the wall. 

“I’m sorry. No more talk about... _him_. I’m concerned about _her_. I haven’t told her this but... right before she fainted, something... something happened to her. Something unusual.” 

Jackie swiftly turned to face Jack once again. “What kind of a something?” 

“Well,” he said as he scratched his cheek with a fingertip, “her eyes glowed.” 

Jackie swallowed visibly hard. “Not again. She came back to life again? She died up there didn’t she? And you’ve been afraid to tell me!” Jackie’s face radiated fear. 

“What do you mean died _again_?” Jack gently placed his hands on Jackie’s shoulders. “Don’t lie to me. I need to know. This is very, very important.” 

Tears welled in Jackie’s eyes and she nodded. “When — when _he_ brought her back to me, she was dead. He even said so himself. He laid her on the sofa, kissed her and muttered something about dollucks and her saving the universe and just kept saying he was sorry over and over and over and then — then he left me with me own daughter dead on my sofa. His box-thing disappeared ‘cos he’d parked right in my flat – imagine that,” she snorted a laugh. “And just after it disappeared, she — she opened her eyes, and there was this golden light swirling in 'em like pixie dust. I thought I was going insane. But then she sat up, alive as could be. 

"She started muttering the same nonsense about dollucks, just like the Doctor had tried to explain, and you know what? She said your name Jack! I remember that! Plain as day. And then she said she wanted the Doctor safe. But then she stopped rambling, her face got all contorted up and she said her head was killin’ her and she collapsed. She was alive, but feverish. Sometime after that I fell asleep, and when I woke up, she had moved herself to her bedroom. I found her huddled in the corner weeping and talking to herself that he’d left her, how much she loved him and, well, you get the picture. I got her into bed. Then and there I decided I’d protect her from him. So I found her mobile and erased his contact and all of her call history. She’d just found out I’d done that when you found us. That’s why she was so mad at me. 

"Anyway, she woke up the next day with a horrible fever and headache. But the crying. I thought she was going to die of a broken heart, I really did. I thought she’d lost the will to live. She recovered from the fever and headache in a few days, but hasn’t really been the same since. Moody, mean, depressed. Just not herself. Today was the best she’s been since — since —” 

“Since she was with him, right?” 

Jackie silently agreed. 

“So the, er,” he cleared his throat, “he doesn’t know she’s alive?” 

“No. He’s never been back since.” 

"And you didn't think that maybe, just maybe, he should know that his best friend and woman he loves is alive?!" Jack raged quietly. 

"No! He doesn't deserve her!" she shot back with a hiss. 

Jack breathed in and out a few times to calm himself. "All right. Back to the matter at hand. Did he seem okay when he left? I mean other than being devastated as I can only imagine he would be.” 

“He looked awfully flushed, like he was sick or something. Never knew he could get sick, though. Didn’t look right.” 

“And Rose knows about this?” 

“No. And she never will, Jack Harkness. Not from me, she won’t!” She pointed her long red- varnished fingernail at him. “And I would seriously suggest you don’t tell her either, or you’ll have me to deal with.” 

“She needs to know. I was there. And he was right. She did save the universe. She saved me, too. I don't know how, but she did. I was dead, Millie, and then I wasn't, and now I can't die. I've been with Torchwood since 1899. I'm old." 

"What are you goin' on about?!" Jackie frowned. 

"Did you see what happened up on that ship? Did you watch that duel?” Jack gestured to the ceiling. 

“Yeah I saw it all right. Crazy bloke up there havin’ a sword fight a million miles above the earth on a spaceship. And his hand! Wasn’t that something!” 

“She glowed right before that man’s hand grew back." 

"What are you saying?" Jackie asked, afraid to hear the answer. 

"I am saying that I don't think it was a coincidence. She saved me on Satellite 5, and I think she made that man's hand grow back. Somehow, she knew he was important and had to be saved." 

"My daughter made some strange man's hand grow back? You're crazy!" 

"I promise, I'm not crazy. I can prove it to you. Everything. Just not here." 

"Oh that's always the case isn't it? Can't prove it here!" 

"I... I need to keep her safe, and I'm going to ask her to come away with me. I think you should come too." 

"No way. Absolutely not. She will not be going with you."

"She's an adult, and I'm going to ask her, whether you like it or not."

Jackie stood up, and Jack followed suit. "Don't. You. Dare."

"I will. I'm telling you now so that you will be prepared.” 

Jack felt the wrath of Jackie's palm across his cheek. 

She returned to Rose's bedside. 

“Oh my swee’hear! I’ve been worried sick about you. Faintin’ like that! They’re takin’ really good care of ya’ though. You doin’ all right? Did they feed you? Do you need a cup of tea? Warm enough? How 'bout another blanket... I'll get one of those warm ones they always have. It’s always so bleedin’ cold in hospital. Do they know what's goin' on with you?“ 

“Just stop talkin’ and I’ll answer you Mu– Millie.” She sighed. “I only now just woke up. Jack came and got you first thing. Right now, I just want to rest a bit, ‘kay? My head is hurting so much.” 

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is it as bad as before?" 

"No. Not that bad.” 

“Well, all right then, I'll just let you rest. Let me know if you need anything.” Jackie sat on the hard plastic chair and leaned forward, stroking her daughter's hair. Rose smiled softly and mouthed 'thank you.' 

oOo 

The Doctor watched ash drift down as he leaned against the cold, rough, grey stone of his outbuilding. She had murdered them. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister — formerly of Flydale North, yes we know who you are — had murdered an entire ship full of beings who had surrendered and retreated. Even for all of their threats and thirst for conquest, they had proven themselves honorable. 

The thought of their cremated remains raining down onto London sickened his stomach. He opened the blue door of his laboratory and slipped inside his private oasis. He flipped on the lights, and the room glowed a familiar shade of golden brown as the light gently reflected off of the freshly-painted walls. 

Methodically, he pulled out his new brown stoneware teapot, turned on his new electric tea kettle and chose a brown mug with the saying, “It’s always tea time in the vortex.” 

He pulled off the cellophane wrapping from a new box of Earl Grey tea -- not the first box he had purchased — he'd already gone through four boxes in three weeks. He settled into his new comfy chair, propped up his feet on the ottoman and sighed, waiting for the electric kettle to signal that his tea water was ready. 

He had only one explanation for what had happened today: Rose Tyler, goddess of time, had reached through time and space and had regrown his hand. She was still saving him, even after her death. She had been a creature of time for those few minutes – she had seen all of time and space hadn’t she? So it wasn’t too far out of the realm of his understanding to believe this to be the only logical explanation. He’d seen the golden glow swirling around the stump. He had felt the same burning pain of regeneration. He had smelled time with its tangy, metallic, exotic aroma, the same scent that had emanated from Rose as she burned. 

“Why didn’t you save yourself, Rose? You saved us all, why not yourself?” He spoke the words quietly as he raked his hand over his face. The tea kettle whistled him out of his soliloquy and he pushed himself out of the deep chair to prepare a pot of tea. 

The Doctor put two bags of tea into the plain brown teapot and added the boiling water. “Rose said that her mum made a good cup of tea, not that I ever was in her good graces to prove the truth of it. The mud she made me? Absolutely horrible,” he groaned while he waited for his internal clock to tell him it was ready. 

He opened the compact refrigerator and frowned when he realized he had forgotten to restock with milk. For that matter, he was out of sugar, too, and resolved to head off to Tesco tomorrow. He hissed through his teeth once he realized that what day it was. 

“Can’t do it tomorrow. Christmas Day. Probably closed. Maybe that little corner place will be open.” He grabbed the hot handle of the mug and headed back to the cottage, trying to ignore the fact that he was walking through an inch of Sycorax ashes. 

By the time he had filled his mug with milk, added the tea, and spooned in three teaspoons of sugar, the water had cooled down enough to be palatable to his lower-than-human body temperature. He tucked a package of Jammy Dodgers under his arm and carried his mug to the small table. 

There was something niggling in his mind, he hoped that the tannins and free radicals would knock it loose. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about the room was bothering him. Something was out of place. He took one sip, and then another before setting his mug on the table. He clasped his hands behind his head and surveyed the room. His eyes finally rested on the mantel above the cold, dark fireplace on the other side of the room. He furrowed his brow and walked over to investigate. 

The TARDIS had provided two pictures on the mantel above the fireplace: one of Rose, Jack and himself in Cardiff and one of Rose on Woman Wept. Rose had begged him to join her and Jack for a picture in front of the TARDIS as it sat above the rift, refueling. She’d stopped a passerby and asked her to snap the photo with the fancy digital camera she had purchased a few days before. The Doctor had protested wildly, but she had given him the gift of one of her brilliant smiles, and he had been loath to say no. 

But in silent protest, he had refused to smile. Jack, of course, was grinned madly with his arm around Rose, pulling her close into his side. If the Doctor were being completely honest though, this was the real reason he wasn’t smiling. 

The second photo was of Rose sitting atop a frozen wave on Woman Wept. She was wrapped up in a heavy Altrazian Alpaca wool blanket that she had dug out of a storage cupboard and dragged out onto the ice. The air was frigid, but the view was spectacular, and she wasn’t going to miss the sunrise for the world. As she sat in the blue light of the pre-dawn darkness, the Doctor had stolen back into the TARDIS and found her new camera. He had snapped the picture without her knowledge just as the sun peeked over the horizon. She was in profile, looking out over the frozen waves. Her hair glowed golden in the light of the rising sun, an ominous foreshadowing of what was soon to come. 

This framed photo now had an identical twin sitting next to it, and laying next to that was a sparkly Christmas gift tag signed in a reasonable facsimile of the Doctor’s own handwriting. “To Jackie from the Doctor,” he read out loud. “She wants me to take this to her, doesn’t she? I believe that my TARDIS is planning my life out for me.” 

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I suppose I could drop it off in secret tomorrow. If I did it tonight, I’d probably be arrested on suspicion of burglary or peeping tom-ism or some other trumped-up charge.” 

The Doctor picked up the original photo, his copy. Before this moment, he had not dared to touch the photograph, so he had never examined it closely, choosing to look at the picture from afar. Minuscule Gallifreyan symbols were delicately etched into the frame, although to the untrained eye, the pattern would have simply looked like an intricately detailed design. He gently traced the delicate carving in the mahogany-colored wood. 

“I want you safe my Doctor. Forever.” 

oOo 

Jack walked the tile-floored hallway until he reached the nurse’s station. The night nurse’s chair was vacant, and her half-eaten Christmas treat was sitting on a small paper plate merrily decorated with Christmas holly. An almost-empty mug of coffee sat next to the plate, and the Torchwood logo screensaver was spinning and bouncing hypnotically. 

“Hey anybody here?” he asked quietly so as to not disturb any other sleeping patients who may be in the care of Torchwood medical. “Hello...” He knocked twice on the counter, but no one came, so he pushed off and grabbed a biscuit from the treat tray before he left. Shoving the whole thing into his mouth, he walked down the hall towards the loo. 

“Thank you for informing me of your findings, Doctor Winston. You did the right thing calling me.”

It was Yvonne Hartman’s distinctly condescending voice coming from the office. “Please explain further.” 

Jack halted just outside of the door and strained to listen. 

“Certainly, Director. On the surface, Daisy Miller appears to be a completely normal, healthy young woman. However, I discovered some very alarming things in her blood and urine workups. According to her sister, Millie, with whom she lives, Daisy is currently unemployed, having suffered an undisclosed injury or medical emergency recently. Her sister was very evasive about the nature of said medical problem. But whatever it was, it was catastrophic. Her white counts are very high, so high that I thought perhaps she had undiagnosed stage IV cancer. However, I used the quick screen and quickly ruled that out. On a hunch, I ordered a second and third set of blood and urine draws, each one hour apart. The white cells in the second test had halved. In the third, they were completely normal.” 

“No sign of a problem with the equipment?” 

“No ma’am, I was concerned about that as well.” The doctor fidgeted with the computer mouse. 

“Go on Dr. Winston, I can tell you have more to tell me.” 

“Her blood, ma’am, and her DNA... she... she possesses an alarmingly high rate of cellular re- growth.” 

“Does it appear that this is a naturally occurring phenomenon, or do you believe there has been outside influence?” 

“Outside influence, ma’am?” 

“Do I have to spell it out for you? Alien. Is there any indication that she is either an alien, or has been tampered with by aliens?” 

Doctor Winston swallowed thickly. “That...” he shook his head, “No. She is definitely human, but as to tampering, that is impossible to know without further study, ma’am.” 

“Do what you need to do, doctor, and I mean anything. You are new enough to Torchwood that I shouldn’t need to remind you of your contractual obligations to Queen and Country. You agreed to uphold our Charter when you came on board. You knew that there would be difficult decisions to be made. I will remind you, though. Our charter mandates that we will do anything to keep the Empire safe. And I mean anything. Don’t hold back, doctor.” 

“Anything?” he asked with a hitch in his voice. 

“Yes, anything.” 

“But she’s British! I can’t just treat her like some alien corpse!” 

“Has she given you proof of British citizenship?” 

Dr. Winston was silent. 

“I thought not. And so as to not arouse suspicion, let the sister go. We did a scan on her initially and there is nothing of which to be suspicious.” 

“Scan?” 

“Oh yes... every time you enter the Torchwood Tower, you are scanned with a tidy bit of alien tech we recovered a few years back from a crash site outside of Kent. It checks heart rate, blood pressure and other basic life support markers among other things. Radiation, odd energy readings, you know, the basics. I have had my eye on Ms. Daisy Miller from the moment she arrived. Dr. Winston, the scan indicated that this young woman is a space traveller. She shows signs of background radiation we have only ever read off of alien life forms. And if it is alien, it is ours, so get to the bottom of it.” She smiled coldly. 

“Yes ma’am.” Doctor Winston was suddenly regretting his decision to join the mysterious Torchwood. 

“And Happy Christmas. There is a buffet in the commissary you might like to enjoy. It will be set up all day," she said as an afterthought. 

“Thank you ma’am. I’ll... I’ll take advantage of that.” 

Jack quickly ducked into the men’s room and pressed his ear to the door until the pock-pock-pock of the impeccably dressed woman’s heels faded, and the sound of the lift indicated she had left the floor. He quietly slid back out, and then sneaked his way back to the nurses's station. Loud and obvious, he returned back down the hallway, giving the illusion of just having arrived. 

“Hey doc, Daisy is awake. I tried to find the nurse, but I think she took a break. Anyway, I thought you should know.” He grinned at the doctor, whose face was blanched. “So how long have you been here? You’re new to Torchwood right?” 

“Yes, I’ve only just been hired. Started in November. Was recruited by Ms. Hartman personally,” he added with a tinge of regret in his voice. 

“Good looking woman, isn’t she?” Jack elbowed him and wagged his eyebrows. 

“Well, I haven’t really noticed. She’s not my type. Too brash. And apparently without a moral compass,” he frowned. 

“You’ve discovered that too, eh?” Jack smirked in agreement. “So what are you plans for Christmas,” he looked at his name tag, “Henry?” 

“It’s Hal. Call me Hal. I am stuck here. Low man on the totem pole and all that.” 

“Perhaps we should keep each other company? I’m stuck here too. Been put in charge of Daisy Miller. She’s sweet enough, but that sister of hers, she’s a piece of work!” Jack laughed. 

“I thought my eardrums were going to burst for all of the questions she asked,” the physician lightened up a bit. 

Jack laughed heartily and clapped him on the back. “So, how is Daisy doing?” he asked genuinely concerned for his friend. 

“I—” Hal cleared his voice and furrowed his brow. “I need to keep her for a few more days for observation. Some of the preliminary test results have yielded things of concern.” 

“Things of concern? That sounds serious.”  
“It could be, Captain Harkness, er, Jack. What is your clearance level?” Jack pulled flashed his identification badge, which Hal scrutinized carefully. 

“Your clearance is adequate, and Director Hartman didn’t tell me that this was on the QT. She thinks that she’s been tampered with by an alien.” 

Jack fought back an ironic smile. “Tampered with, eh? Like those alien abductees that were brought into Torchwood Four last month?” 

“No... they were basically taken on a joyride and brought home intoxicated, their memories garbled. Ms. Miller’s physiology has changed. Not radically, but enough to indicate outside intervention. Further, she is giving off some sort of energy readings associated with... and when I tell you this, don’t think I’m crackers, okay?” 

“Believe me, very little shocks me, Hal.” 

“She shows signs of recent space travel.” 

“And Hartman wants to treat her as alien, right? That woman sees an alien behind every tree.” 

“And if it’s alien–" he started the familiar quote. 

Jack interrupted, “It’s ours. I bet she has that needlepointed on a pillow on her sofa,” Jack chided. “But that’s not good for Daisy.” 

“No, it is not. I’ve been ordered to run her through every test in the book, and some of them... I’m not too comfortable about running some of them on a human being, or an alien for that matter.” He shook his head. 

“Dr. Winston,” Jack put his arm around the shorter man’s shoulders. “What do you think about a little jailbreak?” 


	9. Eight

**Chapter 8**

"So doc, are you in? I can't promise glory or riches, but I can tell you that you are doing absolutely the right thing. And I can also promise that you won't have a job with Torchwood anymore," he laughed a bit and smiled, more than a bit sardonically and casually leaned against the wall, one hand in his pocket. "They don't take too lightly to those who go against their schemes." 

"I think that is a promise that I can live with," Dr. Winston commented seriously. "How are we gonna get her out of here? This place is wired to the hilt, and with CCTV once we get outside, how can ever we avoid being seen?" 

"Leave that up to me. I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Jack pushed himself off of the wall with his shoulder. "You'd be amazed what someone picks up along the way when they've been around this place as long as I have. But you are going to have to trust me." 

Jack began to walk out of Hal’s laboratory, assuming Hal would follow. 

"Wait. Hold on a tic." Hal held up his hand. "How do I know you aren't working for her? For Director Hartman? And that she isn't testing my loyalty? I am rather new to the Institute." 

Jack cocked his head and smiled wryly. "That's kind of a stupid question, for someone so well-educated." 

"It is not a stupid question, it is a prudent one," Hal replied in an irritated, clipped tone. "Cambridge for University and. University of Edinburgh for medicine, am I right?" 

"Yes. How did you know?" 

"The way you talk gives it away. But you went on partial scholarship, which helped some, but not enough. While your family isn't poor, they ain't rich either. And Director Hartman offered you something that would make life so much easier for your dear, financially strapped family. Torchwood paid off your debt." 

"Yes," he said looking down. "Loans were paid off, and I signed a fifteen year employment agreement." 

Jack clapped him on the arm encouragingly. "You ain't alone, buddy. Half the people here are indentured servants to this place in one way or another." 

"So what keeps you here? And how do I know you aren't working for her?" Hal crossed his arms and stared him down through squinted eyes. 

"If I were working for her, would I tell you?" Jack half-smiled, amused. 

"Well, no, now that you put it that way," he frowned. 

"I'm putting myself on the line here, too. How do I know you aren't loyal to her and just reeling me in?" Jack challenged.

"Well. There you have it. We are at stalemate." Hal clasped his hands behind his back and stood stiff and straight, stubbornly jutting his chin upwards. 

Jack broke the uncomfortable silence after a few seconds. "You grew up in a fiercely patriotic home. Your grandfather was a World War II hero. Your mother or father grew up listening to him regale the glory days. Hartman offered you the position with Torchwood, and she told you that you would be making a difference, keeping the Empire safe – not that Britain is an empire any longer. Am I getting warm?" 

"Yes, you aren't far off." 

"I'm good at reading people," he winked. "She thought she knew you, didn't she? But not really... While you are loyal and patriotic, people mean much more to you than institutions, and you have seen things since you got here that have expanded your horizons. The world is suddenly very small, and very big, at the same time, right?" 

"I thought I knew the basic rules of the universe, but coming here has turned almost all of my assumptions on their ear." 

"The universe is a big place Hal. You don't know the half of it." 

"Director Hartman seems a very... cautious person." 

"Paranoid more like it," Jack interjected. 

Hal chuckled quietly. "Right. Did you see that sword fight on the ship?”

“Who didn’t.” 

“Well you know that hand that the ugly bloke sliced off? Hartman brought it in. She asked me to run a series of tests to determine–" 

"Let me guess," Jack interrupted, "to see if there is anything alien about it." 

"Bingo." He laughed sarcastically.

"You still got it?" 

Hal opened a cabinet towards the back of his lab, and then motioned to Jack. There were various wires attached to the jar leading to a computer housed on the shelf next to the jar. The hard drive was grinding, working hard to monitor the readings. 

“One of the main reasons she recruited me was my background in xenobiology. I spent two years in the Amazon Basin studying and classifying newly-discovered species of flora and fauna." 

"Wow. That's a bit Frankenstein." Jack screwed up his face as he looked at the specimen floating in a jar of liquid.

“Standard alien tissue preservation jar, but the tissue isn't dying, if you can believe it." Hal stood in front of the jar, hands clasped behind his back. 

“Hal, are you telling me that that hand is alive?" 

"Not alive in the sense that it is sentient. But yes. The tissue isn't decomposing, at least not at any rate which I can discern." 

"Why keep it in a jar of bubbling fluid then?" Jack leaned over to peered in and tapped the jar gently. "Hello Handy." He stood up and turned back to Hal. 

"Just a precaution."

“I assume it’s alien.” 

Hal pursed his lips. "Yes, and before you ask, no, I have not told Director Hartman." 

Jack grinned. "Doc, I think you just made Rose's day."

"Who is Rose?" 

"Follow me. Gimme Handy. We'll need to revive Rose and if you have something strong that will help her head feel better, that would be great. I promise you Hal, there is nothing really wrong with her. And oh, where do you keep the Retcon?" Jack flashed a smile and waggled his eyebrows. 

"You going to tell me who Rose is?" Hal unplugged Handy's jar and attached a battery pack to maintain the proper aeration of the sustaining liquid, and then he pointed to a cabinet in the corner of the room. "Retcon is in there. I have aerosol, hypospray, pre-filled syringes, and liquid elixir. Take your pick. Why do you need it?" 

"If anyone spots us, I will make them forget they ever saw us.“ Jack put the jar in a heavy-duty, black field-gear bag, and then dropped in various bottles, syringes, and a few boxes. "I don't want anyone hurt because of what we're about to do. With Retcon, they will maintain plausible deniability, and not have to face the wrath of Hartman. Now, let's go get Rose." 

"Again I ask, who is Rose? I want to know whom I am helping before I go any further!" Hal raised his voice. 

"Daisy? Rose? Honestly, Hal. You don't have any imagination. You need to lighten up!" 

"Very clever, Jack," he said sarcastically. But why did you need to change her name?" 

"I'll tell you later. All that you need to know right now is that by helping Rose, you are saving someone who is very important to the Doctor." 

"The Doctor?" He paused and screwed up his face. "THE Doctor?"

"Yessir!" Jack grinned brightly as he strode out the door, Hal following closely behind. 

The nurse was back on duty, and Hal stopped at the nurse's station. He gripped the counter tightly as Jack stood back and observed. The black bag was slung casually over one shoulder.

"Joyce, when was Ms. Miller's last dose of pain killer? Mr. Harkness, her handler, said she complained of a severe headache when she came to for just a moment." 

She looked up Rose's electronic patient file. "Two hours ago, Dr. Winston.” 

"Thank you nurse. I'm going to counteract her sedation and I'll give her a booster for her headache, and then I'm going to take her for screening." 

"You are taking her yourself?"

"Director Hartman has requested I conduct the testing personally." 

"Yes, Dr. Winston, I understand. Since there aren't any other patients on the floor, I think I'm going to go down to the Christmas buffet. Some of my friends are down there, and well, it is Christmas Day. after all." 

“Right. Of course. Just keep your communicator close." 

"Always," she smiled warmly as she stood up and gathered a few things. 

"If I don't see you before your shift ends, Happy Christmas." 

"Happy Christmas to you as well, Dr. Winston." The nurse locked her computer and left. 

When she was out of earshot, Jack spoke. "You sure keep a casual medical wing." 

"The opposite actually. I'd be surprised if she isn't already suspicious. She worships the ground that Director Hartman walks on.” 

"Than we’d better hurry." 

Hal punched a code into a medicine locker and pulled out two small vials and then carefully secured the cabinet. Together, the men made their way to Rose's room where they found her fast asleep, and Jackie, gone. 

"How long will it take to pull out of the sedation?" 

"For Rose to be fully under her own faculties? About five minutes." Slowly and carefully, Hal injected the medications into the port on the back of Rose's hand. 

"Good, that'll give me time to work some magic on the security cameras. Do you have a car here?" 

"Yes. I drive a Volvo.” 

“Funny, I figured you more of the sleek, silver BMW type,” Jack said as he worked at the computer terminal at Rose's bedside. "Where did you park?" 

"Level 4, employee underground car park. What have I gotten myself into?" Hal muttered to himself. 

"I have taken care of the surveillance cameras all the way down to the garage. It won't take Security long to figure out something is up, but this should buy us enough time to get out of the building. I have no way to tap into the national CCTV system though, so we're just going to have to take our chances." 

"Where are we going?" 

"Cardiff." 

Rose started to stir, and then sat up. "Jack? Doctor? What's going on?" 

"Rose, how you feeling?" 

"You called me Rose." She looked at the doctor with confusion. "Jack...?" she looked at her friend, scared. 

"It's all right sweetheart. This here is Hal. He's helping us. We're getting you out of here. It isn't safe for you anymore." 

"Where's Mum?"

"I'm right here. Just needed the loo. Why'd you call me _Mum_?" she stage whispered.

"Jackie, we have to get her out of here right now. I want you to listen very carefully. There will be no more slapping, no yelling, no questions. You will listen to my instructions and you will do as I say. Do you understand me completely? Because if you don't, I will take matters into my own hands, and will provide you alternative transportation." 

"I don't know what you mean by that, but it sounds like a threat." Jackie crossed her arms sternly. 

"Mum, shut up! Just agree!" Rose hissed as she got out of bed. She was still clothed. Jackie handed her daughter her trainers and socks. 

"Oh all right. If you say so," Jackie whinged, and squinted her eyes angrily. 

"This is what is going to happen: Rose, you are going to get back into bed and pretend you are asleep. Hal, you are going to wheel her out, chatting with Jackie and me... you know... all casual-like. We'll go as far as the lab, because it's on the way. We'll ditch the gurney inside of the lab and make a run for it for your car. Rose and Jackie, you are going to get into the boot, and then we'll leave." 

"I'm what?" Jackie screeched.

"Questioning goes against my rules, Jackie," Jack leveled a look. 

"Well I'm not getting into some smelly old boot of a stranger's car. You are crazy if you think I'm going to do that." Jackie pointed his finger into Jack's face. 

"It's not some smelly car, it's a Volvo, and the boot is large." 

"I think it's a brilliant plan, Jack. Let's go." Rose jumped into the bed and closed her eyes. 

"That's my girl!" Jack kissed her forehead. 

"You're just as crazy as she is!" Jackie hissed at Jack. "And she's just as crazy as the Doctor!" Jackie whispered to Rose, motioning towards Jack. "No wonder you're such good friends." Jackie muttered as they made their way out into the hallway and to safety. 

oOo 

The escape went surprisingly smoothly, with only one Retcon recipient: the parking garage attendant. Jackie had suffered a panic attack moments after getting into the boot, and screamed bloody murder so loudly that the attendant had started to call security to investigate. Jack sprayed him with a one-minute reversal dose of aerosol Retcon, clearing his memory of the trio ever having exited through the gate. 

A mile after leaving Torchwood Tower, Hal pulled into an alleyway at Jack's direction, as he knew there was no CCTV camera active. Rose and Jackie were freed from the hiding place and they folded themselves into the backseat of the vehicle. The women hunched down as far as they could, but no one would have seen them anyway, as the streets were deserted. It was 4:00 am Christmas morning. 

Along the way, Hal explained what sort of testing Yvonne Hartman had slated for Rose. Jackie felt ill as he went into detail. 

"This has been a helluva day and I want me own bed." Jackie's voice was husky with fatigue. 

"Jackie, you know I can't do that. I need to take you and Rose someplace safe, away from London." Jack looked over the back of the leather seat to explain. 

"I understand now that she needs to be safe, but I won't go." Jackie crossed her arms resolutely. "I have a life here. I’m not about to give it up. What would they want with me anyway?" she complained casually. 

"Jack, just take my Mum home, all right?" Rose requested, trying to stifle a yawn. 

"Whatever you say, Rosie. I'll figure something out. I promise she'll be safe. I have enough friendly contacts within Torchwood to keep an eye out." 

The rest of the ride to the Powell Estate was spent in silence. Once they arrived, Jack helped Jackie out of the backseat, and Rose quickly joined them. Mother and daughter watched each other awkwardly. Rose picked her fingernails and Jackie crossed her arms and tried to blink away tears. 

Rose sighed as she fussed with her jacket. "I know lately I haven't been real easy to live with, but I do love you. And I haven't said it enough lately but I do. I appreciate you takin' care of me while I got better and puttin' up with my tears and moodiness. But I also know you've been keeping secrets and I hate it, Mum. I'm an adult. You have to treat me like one. You have to trust me." 

"I do trust you. And I only do what I do because I love you, you daft girl. And someday, when you get married and have a child of your own, maybe then you'll understand." She pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry we didn't get Christmas together." 

"I didn't even get you a Christmas present," Rose wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand and squeezed her eyes shut, not able to meet her mother's eyes. "I was so wrapped up in myself the past few weeks..." 

Jackie pulled her into a hug. "Don't think twice about it, darlin'. And if half of what Jack said about that Hartman woman is true, then he's right. You need to go someplace safe." She turned to Jack. "You seem like a decent bloke, Jack Harkness, even if I don't agree with your choice of friends, namely rude alien ones who wear black leather. But, you got us out of that awful Torchwood place. Just keep good care of my daughter. Make sure she's safe." She started to walk into the courtyard and then turned around. "Convince her to forget him. To move on. Please." And with that, she walked away. 

Rose couldn't bring herself to watch her mother walk up the stairs, so she climbed back into the back seat of the Volvo, laid down and cried herself sleep. 

Jackie walked up the stairs slowly in the pre-dawn darkness. When she arrived inside of her empty flat, she collapsed down on the sofa, exhausted, and curled up under a blanket. She slept fitfully for several hours, her dreams filled with images of aliens and spaceships and sword fights. 

oOo 

"Who's at the bloody door on Christmas night." Jackie Tyler grumbled as she pulled herself up off of the sofa and dragged herself to the door, still holding a mangled wet tissue in her hand. With bleary eyes, the distortion of the peephole revealed tall, thin man wearing black glasses. He started to walk away, but then returned. 

Jackie opened the door until the security chain allowed it to go no further. She peeked through the gap. "Yeah, who are you. What do you want?" 

"I'm... I was a friend of Rose's and I have something for you... of hers... a picture of her... for you..." He cleared his throat nervously. "Please, can I come in?" 

"I don't recognize you, but she did know a lot of people when she worked at Henrik's. A picture of her? Like her identification badge or something?" 

"May I come in Jackie?" he asked again. 

"Jackie? That's a bit forward, Mister. You ain't even told me your name. Just said you're some friend of Rose's. How do I know you ain't some stalker or a robber or someone? I bet you're from Tor-" 

"Err... John Smith." 

"John Smith? You expect me to believe that? I'm not stupid. Show me some proper identification." 

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper, and flashed it through the gap. 

"What does that mean? 'Rose's Forever’. You're not selling mail order flowers door to door or something? Now bugger off before I call the cops on you!" 

"No wait. Jackie. Please... it's me. It's me, the Doctor." 

"What'd you say?" Jackie asked breathily. 

"I'm the Doctor. I've changed my face. Well, everything really. I've regenerated." 

"You ain't the Doctor! Go away you crazy man!" She tried to close the door, but he stuck his foot in before she could slam it shut. 

"The first time I met you, you propositioned me in your bedroom. You were wearing a pink satin dressing gown and I said one word. Just one word: ‘No,' and I think you've had it in for me ever since." 

"I never told anyone about that, not even Rose," she whispered, her mind racing. 

"I certainly never told anyone, especially Rose," he screwed up his face. 

Jackie furrowed her brow and released the useless chain lock. The metal knocked gently against the door as it fell and swung against the wood. "What do you mean you changed your face?" 

"May I have a cup of tea?" he pled. 

She looked at his brown eyes and saw a softness there that she had never seen in his predecessor's along with something familiar too. "Yes. I'll... just... why don't you sit down on the sofa, um, Doctor... I'll go into the kitchen and..." Her voice trailed off as she lost her train of thought. 

Jackie stumbled numbly into the kitchen and immediately began to panic. Could she possibly believe this was the Doctor? Could he really change his face? Rose had never mentioned anything like this. But then again, he was alien, not human. Maybe it wasn't so unbelievable after all, considering he had a time-travelling spaceship that looked like a police box that was much, much bigger on the inside. 

She fumbled with the electric tea kettle and pulled out two mugs: one had a Henrik's logo and the second had the picture of a teddy bear. Somehow, they mocked the moment, so she put them back into the cupboard. Using her compact folding step ladder, she accessed the cabinet above the refrigerator where she kept her few cherished pieces of china. Carefully, she retrieved the teapot and two china cups and saucers. It was Christmas after all. The least she could do was make this odd man a proper pot of tea. 

It wasn't often that she used loose tea, but she did keep some about for special occasions. In rote habit, she poured a portion of the freshly water boiled into the empty teapot, swirled it around to warm the cold china, and then dumped it into the sink. She measured several tablespoons of loose tea into the teapot and waited for the water in the kettle to return to a boil. She found a simple plastic tray and added her sugar bowl, a carton of milk, some spoons, the china and the teapot. She searched through the cabinets and found a half empty package of biscuits that Rose had eaten in one-go the other day; the wrapper was haphazardly torn and hanging open. Lastly, she found a tea strainer and carried everything out. 

"Here we are. I found some biscuits. They may be a bit stale since they've been open a few days. Rose has a bad habit of putting things back without properly sealing them," her voice quivered and her hand shook as she placed it on the coffee table. 

"Rose does what?" He breathed the question, his hand stuck midair reaching for a biscuit. 

"She's always done that. Opens a bag of crisps, shoves it into the cupboard without clipping it shut, so they go soft. Empty cereal box? Back in the cupboard. Lazy if you tell me." 

"Jackie, that's no way to speak of your daughter, especially now.” He looked down at his cup of tea that she had poured and offered to him while speaking. "I know you are probably still in shock, but isn't that a bit insensitive?" 

Jackie suddenly realized her mistake and choked on her tea. She dropped the cup and it shattered against the edge of the coffee table. 

"I think this was a mistake. I have upset you. I shouldn't have come. It is still too soon." The Doctor stood up and began to leave. He took something from inside of his coat and set it on the table before he left. 

Jackie watched blankly as walked out the door, and then looked down at the item he had left. It was a beautifully framed photo. Her daughter's face glowed in the light of an alien sunrise. She was content, enthralled, at peace. It was perfectly clear that the girl in the photograph had been wholly and completely happy. She stared at the photograph through tears for several minutes. All at once, Jackie Tyler understood that she had stolen something from Rose that she had no right to take: hope. 

"Oh, I know I am going to regret this!" Jackie launched herself out the door and onto the exterior hallway balcony. She leaned on the railing to steel herself as she watched the man who she now truly believed to be the Doctor slowly walk away, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders slumped, and long coat trailing behind. 

"She's alive. Rose isn't dead. She's alive, Doctor." Jackie Tyler's loud voice echoed across the canyon of the Powell Estate as the Christmas lights reflected in the puddles from the cool, misty Christmas rain. 

The man with the wild brown hair and soft eyes stopped and turned. He looked up at her. Without a word, he ran as fast as his long pinstriped-clad legs could carry him up the stairs, and back into Jackie Tyler's life. 

"Where is my Rose?" he asked, eyes flashing frighteningly. 

"Your Rose? She's my Rose! And she's not here," Jackie hissed, her ire having returned. 

"Where is she Jackie Tyler? Tell me now." His voice rumbled low. 

While she was ready to tell him that Rose was alive, Jackie did not believe that this man deserved to know where she was. 

"I don't know," she answered half-truthfully, rationalizing that she didn't know exactly where she was at this very moment. 

"What?" He scrunched his face. "How can you not know where your daughter is?" 

"We haven't been getting along since, well since you dropped her off with me. I said things, and she said things, and well, we fought and she left. Wouldn't be the first time, you know. She left me for that horrible Jimmy Stones bloke when she was still just a kid really. That turned out awfully bad. She left me for you, too, when it comes down to it. She's a runner, Doctor. It's what she does when she is upset." 

"But how is she alive, Jackie? She was dead. I saw her. I felt her heart stop. I did everything I could to save her. She burned from the inside out." The Doctor stood up and began to pace wildly. 

It took several cups of tea, too many biscuits, and about an hour for Jackie Tyler to explain what she had witnessed on The Day. The Doctor listened carefully, asking surprisingly few questions, even though his mouth was straining to overwhelm her with the need for odd details. When she was done to her satisfaction, she sighed and swirled the last of her cold tea around the cup. 

"Shall I make another pot?" 

"You, Jackie Tyler," he pointed at her rudely, "make brilliant tea." And then he smiled, a big, kind, and thoroughly happy smile. "But I think I've had enough tea for tonight." 

"I think I might float away if I have anymore myself. Strangest Christmas I've ever had, this is. Don't have anything to offer you for dinner. Meat paste maybe, or beans on toast." 

"No. I'm fine. Really," he smiled wryly.

"I didn't hear that ship of yours. Where'd you park?" Jackie suddenly asked. 

"My TARDIS is... hiding from me," he half-smirked. "Now I think I understand why. Clever girl, my TARDIS." 

"Rose told me your ship was alive. There is so much about you I don't understand, Doctor. Like why are your big ears gone, and-" 

"Why I'm now devastatingly foxy?" he winked with humor.

"Still rude, I see. Some things haven't changed then."  
There was a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" Jackie tutted, irritated by the interruption. 

"Hullo Jackie, I brought you and Rose some Christmas cheer." Mickey Smith shoved a box of Quality Street into Jackie's hands. "Hey Rose!" he hollered, "I brought booze and chocolate! Who's the dandy in the suit?" He asked, inclining his head towards the Doctor as he put a bottle of rum on the table.

Jackie scrunched her nose at the sight of the sweet alcohol. 

"Mickity Mick Mickey Smith!" The Doctor leapt off of the couch and strode to the scowling man and clapped him on the arms. "Good to see you!" 

"Who the hell are you?" Mickey scowled sourly. 

"This here's the Doctor." Jackie said, calmly. 

"You been hitting the sauce, Jackie? 'Cos this ain't the Doctor. Besides, where's the TARDIS? I didn't see it down in his usual illegal parkin' spot." 

"It's me, Mickey. I'm the Doctor. I was just about to explain why I look like this. It's a really interesting story if it weren't for the excruciating regeneration pain, sadness, and tragedy of it all." The Doctor tugged on his ear. 

"Where's Rose?"

"Rose isn't here, Mickey. She left," Jackie answered sadly, her voice quietly hitching. 

"Whaddya mean she left?" Mickey asked, furrowing his brows. 

"I pushed too hard, I suppose, and she left me," Jackie continued her half-truth and quickly changed the subject back to the pinstriped man. "Mickey, he really is the Doctor. He brought me this picture as a Christmas gift. Where was this taken again, Doctor?" Jackie handed the framed photo to Mickey. 

"On the permanently frozen sea of Woman Wept." The Doctor smiled brightly, rocking on his feet. 

Mickey took the picture and examined it. "Rose looks really happy here. A lot happier than she looked last time I saw her." Mickey became suddenly angry. "It's all your fault you know, if you are who you say you are. So you ownin' up to bein' him then?" He sneered at the Doctor. 

"Yep!" the Doctor bounced on his toes and smiled brightly. "In the flesh!" 

"Well then, I owe you somethin'." Mickey recoiled his fist and punched the Doctor squarely in the jaw, sending him to the floor with a thud. 

"What'd ya' do that for?" Jackie screeched at Mickey as she went down onto her knees to tend to the bleeding Doctor. 

"You've got a helluva right hook, Mickey Smith," the Doctor said as he flexed his jaw and slowly drew himself up. 

Jackie scowled at Mickey as she went into the kitchen to retrieve a bag of ice for the Doctor's red jaw. 

"That's for what you did to Rose. You broke her heart," Mickey sniffed. "She's not the same girl that traveled with you, Doctor. You just left her here. All she wanted was you, and you just left her. She's the best girl in the world, and you tossed her aside like she was nothin'!" 

The Doctor approached Mickey, bending over slightly so that their faces were almost touching. "Rose means more to me than anyone or anything. And I did everything in my power to save her, up to and including giving my life for her. She was dead when I left her. Would it have been better had I never returned her to her mother? Hmm?" He backed away, balancing on the ball of one foot before he completely stepped away to a more socially acceptable distance. "Now... Rickey," he said unkindly, "if you would like to really understand what has happened, I would suggest that you sit down and listen before you speak." 

Mickey frowned and sat down, his face grim. 

Jackie joined them, handing an ice bag to the Doctor. 

"Thanks Jackie, but I won't need that. I'll be right as rain in about half an hour. Superior healing capabilities – it's a Time Lord thing. So, where to begin? I suppose I should start with Rose Tyler, the girl who took the power of the TARDIS into herself, and lived. That's not supposed to happen, you know." 

So, the Doctor explained...

...and Jackie's heart softened a little bit further...

...and Mickey's last hopes of Rose being his were finally put to rest... 

...and Rose, Jack and Hal shared a humble Christmas dinner of delivery pizza and beer around a card table, safely hidden in a secret underground bunker under the Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff. 


	10. Nine

Chapter 9 

The first few weeks that Rose, Jack, and Hal spent in Cardiff were equal parts awkward, comforting, exciting and enlightening. They had arrived in Cardiff around noon on Christmas Day. Jubilee Pizza was one of the few establishments open on the holiday, and apparently a favorite of Jack's given the friendly reception he received. He bought a couple of pizzas and then they made their way to the Hub, as Jack called their new home. They entered through a rundown and seemingly defunct travel agency, and went through an enormous cog-like door hidden in a back room. 

The vastness of the space took Rose and Hal's breath away. Jack proudly gave them a two minute tour before they sat down for a Christmas dinner of pizza, crisps and beer. 

"How are there groceries here?" Hal asked from the area that served as a makeshift kitchen as he pulled out a few bottles of beer from the refrigerator. 

"I keep the basics in, you know, junk food, beer, wine, chocolate. I usually just order delivery pizza from Jubilee, or get some Chinese or Indian from a takeaway place." 

"And the pizza delivery blokes don't suspect anything odd? Delivering to a strange abandoned travel agency?" Rose asked with worry in her voice. 

"Naw... the delivery guys, they're clueless." Jack laughed it off. 

The pizza was hot and fresh, and the beer relaxed their minds. Conversation had been subdued and very general in topic. After Rose stuffed herself with too many slices of the delicious greasy pepperoni and cheese pie, she decided to explore the vast underground structure that she would call home for the foreseeable future. She located a few sleeping rooms and claimed one as her own, even though she had no belongings to store other than her jacket. 

"What did you call this place again, Jack?" she asked as she touched a tiled wall emblazoned with the name 'Torchwood'. 

"It's called the Hub. Was built about 100 years ago to monitor the mysterious energy source, the rift, that runs through Cardiff. They still don't know what it really is, you know." 

"Full service petrol station for the TARDIS, right?" Rose stated, as emotionless as she could. 

Jack chuckled. "Yeah. Torchwood stopped monitoring it during the war. There was so little alien activity from 1938 to 1946 anyway, save the odd Chula ship," he winked at Rose. "It was like no one wanted to come to earth. Smart, what with all the bombing and general nastiness going on. Anyway, the employees who manned this place were recalled to London to aid in the war effort. And of course a lot of the records were destroyed during the Blitz. The Hub was deemed unimportant with the advent of new monitoring technology, so no one was sent back. It sort of fell out of everyone's memory. The rift is now monitored from an office building across the way." 

"And we are right under the spot where the Doctor refueled the TARDIS? When we found Blon Fetch?" 

"Blon Fel-Fotch. Gotta get the name right." 

Rose rolled her eyes and continued. "She was this really nasty alien from Raxacoricofallapatorius- " 

"Show off," Jack grinned. 

"...who tried to blow up earth by building a faulty nuke plant over the rift. She wanted to surf the shockwave into space," Rose explained to Hal, like it was an everyday occurrence. 

Jack continued the story. "So this Blon woman, she's really green and ugly. Doesn't really fit in amongst humans, so she stole the body of some poor woman who worked at MI:5, and actually made a disguise right out of her skin! But she was too big to fit inside. Her people had invented this device that would compress their bodies to fit... and there was this really awful side effect that gave them really bad gas." 

"Real stinkers, those Slitheen," Rose laughed.  
"But it turns out she was facing a horrible fate on her home planet–" "Raxacoricofallapatorius," Rose interrupted, with a proud grin.  
"She was going to be boiled to death for her crimes," Jack continued. "Oh, that's bad." Hal grimaced as he took a bite of pizza. 

"And of course, the Doctor being who he is, the Doctor took pity on her, and instead of taking her back to face execution, he regressed her into egg form. We delivered her back home to be placed into a family who would raise her properly, rather than as a member of a crime syndicate family." Jack took a swig of beer. 

"How'd he do that?" asked Hal. 

"Something to do with the heart of his TARDIS, that's the name of his ship," Rose answered, and Jack furrowed his brow as he mulled over what she had just said. 

Hal changed the subject. "And you are sure that Torchwood has forgotten about this place?" 

"I'm positive. Guys! Stop worrying!" he urged with a grin. "This place is completely secret. I have been known to hide out here for months at a time over the years..." he said with a twinkle in his eye. 

"Jack, you keep sayin' things like that... What do you mean over the years? And hideout? Why would you need to hideout if you work for Torchwood? Hide from whom?" Rose asked. "Why do I get the feelin' you are hiding something?" 

Jack cleared the card table of their empty beer bottles and binned the empty pizza box, obviously ignoring Rose's question. 

"You say you hitched a ride from the Game Station with a Time Agent. When did you arrive back on earth, Jack?" 

"A long time ago, Rose." "How long?" 

"It was a long time, and that's all you need to know." Jack's blue eyes shone, and for a moment, Rose thought she saw a tear welling in the corner. 

"Jack." She said his name quietly and she laid her hand on his arm. "What happened to you? How are you even alive?" 

"Rose, it's just not something I like to talk about. But you... you of all people, deserve to know. Why don't you and I sit down in the lounge with a bottle of wine? How does that sound?" His offer was not flirtatious, and his voice was very quiet. "I'll also tell you why you fainted, or at least why I think you fainted." 

"Why am I suddenly really scared?" Rose's voice quivered. 

Jack pulled her into a comforting hug, and they stood there for quite a while. 

"Jack, I think I'm going to turn in. You said the sleeping quarters are down the hall?" 

"Yeah, Hal. Take your pick." 

"Good night then," Hal stiffly walked away, sensing that there was much that the other two needed to discuss in private. 

oOo 

"So you are saying that I brought you back to life? And now you can't die?" Rose's jaw hung open after Jack finally shared his most-closely-held secret. 

"As far as I can tell, I'm immortal. Been hacked to death, shot several times, stabbed, drowned... that was the worst, I don't recommend it. Oh but burning, now that... that was truly agonizing. And there was the fall from the Empire State Building while it was being built. The free fall was a kick! But the landing sort of sucked," he said with a slight smirk. 

"Stop it, Jack! Just stop!" Rose commanded angrily.  
"Sorry, Rose. I tend to laugh it off. Humor kind of makes it easier to deal with it." 

"And I did this to you? " Rose spoke quietly, and her voice cracked as her stomach turned at the thought of the pain that her friend had suffered over the years. "I'm so sorry, Jack." 

"Hey now, don't say that!" he said as he knelt by her. He reached over and grasped her hand. "Sweetheart, what you did, you did out of love. No one's ever loved me like that before. It's the most beautiful thing that anyone has ever done for me." 

Tears fell down her face. She sniffed and squeezed his hand. "How old are you now?" 

"Well... hard to tell, really, given my job with the Time Agency, but I'd guess, I'm about, oh, 150 now... give or take." 

Rose choked on a sip of wine, and Jack patted her back, laughing. 

"But I look good, don't I? Admit it! I'm the best looking 150 year old you have ever met, right?" He winked and smiled brightly. 

Rose couldn't help but smile at this statement, and she laughed, but there was sadness on her face. 

"I'm pretty sure you're the one who got rid of the Daleks, too," Jack continued. "No other explanation makes any sense. If you could bring me back to life, then something must have happened, given you some sort of power over life and death. It isn't really a stretch to guess that you would also have had the power to get rid of the Daleks as well. They just glowed golden for a moment, and disappeared, like they never even existed. Pretty freaky, huh?" 

"If that's true, then how come I don't remember any of this?" 

"Don't know Rosie. Maybe the Doctor blocked it from your memory somehow." 

"Only thing I remember was a golden light for just a moment... and singing... beautiful singing. I know in my heart that I understood what it meant at the time, but it's like it's been, I don't know, wiped away or something. Somehow I piloted the TARDIS from the Estate back to the Game Station. Imagine that! Me! Flyin' the TARDIS! Sometimes I wake up and think I've heard the singing in my dreams. Can't quite hear it when I'm awake, though... you know how it is with dreams... that is, until yesterday..." 

"Yesterday?" 

"Yeah. At Torchwood... right before I passed out. I heard it while we were watching the sword fight." Rose took another sip of wine and curled her legs up underneath her body. 

"Rose, what has your mum told you about the day the Doctor dropped you off?" 

"Well, not too much, other than I was unconscious when he left. I woke up with a horrible headache. I have no memory of anything after looking into the TARDIS." 

Jack pursed his lips and closed his eyes. "Rose, you weren't unconscious. You were dead when he left you. Your mum told me yesterday. She didn't want you to know." 

"I was what?" she asked, her voice low. "That's impossible. People don't just come back to life, well, apparently, except for you..." 

"Yeah... impossible," he snickered. "Sweetheart, I really don't think your mum was lying. The tests that Hal ran on you show that your body has changed... not a lot, but enough that suspicion was raised. Plus, I looked at your test results, and they match mine. You wouldn't believe how many stupid tests that I've gone through over the years. Only reason they haven't shut me away to kill me over and over is because I'm so damn good at what I do," he joked. "Our cells repair themselves differently, well, that's an understatement. They fix themselves. Yours not quite as much as mine, but enough." 

Jack pulled out a knife and sliced the palm of his hand. 

"Jack what are you doing!" Rose gasped as blood spilled onto the floor. Jack grabbed a kleenex from a nearby box and wiped the area dry. 

"Just watch." Jack held his hand out, and Rose gently touched his fingers as she watched. The edges of the shallow incision reddened, then sealed over, leaving a silvery line where the bloody wound once was. 

"But I've cut myself since then, and this never happened to me, no magic healing." 

"Hmm," he mused. "Your changes must manifest differently than mine, then. All I know is that there are some similarities between you and me now." Jack cleaned up the mess on the floor and then sat down next to a very quiet Rose. "Don't hold it too much against your mum, okay? I think she didn't want to scare you. And think about it Rose... The Doctor would never have just left you if you were simply unconscious. Never. It would go against his very nature." 

"He sent me away, Jack. Tricked me into the TARDIS to get some whatsit and locked me in and sent me home with that Emergency Programme One thing. My last memory of him is a hologram... he was like a ghost... tellin' me he promised Mum he'd keep me safe." 

"Must have killed him to bring you home, thinking you were dead. You said you heard singing yesterday, right?" 

"Mmm hmm. Why?" 

"Your eyes went golden, Rose, and then the guy dueling on that ship? His hand grew back." 

"The good looking bloke with the brown suit? The one I saw on Tower Bridge?" 

"You said you swore you heard a sonic." 

"Yeah..." she answered breathily. "Could he be another Time Lord?" 

"No. The Doctor was adamant that he was the last one. But there is a myth about the Time Lords. That they could cheat death by changing themselves." 

"You think him... he... that guy is... the Doctor?" 

"Don't know, but there is something awfully... unusual about him. Who else could get up there on that ship? End up in a damn duel outside of it? Who else would you feel so protective towards, Rose?" 

"But I don't recognize him!" 

"You heard singing... I think whatever the TARDIS did to you when you looked inside of its heart, I think it might still be there, and maybe that little bit recognized that was the Doctor." 

oOo 

"Rose, hold the plunger at the 2:42 am position... No! Not THAT plunger! This one!" the Doctor hollered pointing at a lever that looked nothing like a plunger handle. "Yes, that one. Right there. Now don't you move a single muscle! The very fate of the universe is in your hands, Rose Tyler!" he said with a manic grin. 

"Oh thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better, Doctor," she responded, more than a little terrified as she held the handle still with all her might. 

"Well, maybe not the fate of the whole universe, but certainly this corner of the universe," he winked. "I have to get this landing just right. Don't want to run into our former selves." 

"Paradox?" 

"Yep. We've been here before, remember? I had that date with Blon Fel-Fotch. She tried to kiss me!" he teased. 

"Sorry you missed out. I bet she was a great kisser!" Rose teased right back.  
"Not as good as Cassandra," he waggled his eyebrows, and she groaned and blushed. 

The TARDIS landed bumpily and Rose let out an "oof" as she and the Doctor were knocked to the floor. The Doctor sprang to his feet, and offered Rose his hand, and then pulled her into his arms. Rose buried her face into his pinstriped shoulder and breathed him in. They pulled apart, and he gave her a lingering kiss, allowing their foreheads to touch for a moment after their lips parted. 

"I wouldn't have kissed Blon like that, now would I?" he said smugly.  
"I wouldn't know, I wasn't in the habit of spying on you." Rose gave him a second kiss. 

He chuckled after pulling away, "I spied on you." "You did?" Rose asked, and then bit her lower lip. 

"You and Mr. Mickey, were right over there," he pointed to a spot on the monitor showing the walkway along the water. 

"You were a jealous one, weren't you?" she smiled smugly as she released her arms from around his neck to grab her black parka. 

He ignored the question with smirk. "Why don't we grab a bite to eat while we're waiting for the TARDIS to re-fuel? I'll buy." 

"Sounds great." 

"Allons-y, my Rose!" He dragged her down the ramp and they launched themselves outside into the flat grey of a late winter day in Cardiff, hand in hand. 

oOo 

Two months passed; it was now late February. According to Jack's contacts at Torchwood, the rumor he had asked his trusted friends to plant had been successful. False information was spread that Jack had helped Daisy Miller escape to the United States, and had contracted to work for the CIA in its budding alien operations department. He also spread the rumor that Dr. Hal Winston had decided to return to the wilds of the Amazon rain forest to continue his research, having become fed up with the bureaucracy and red tape he had encountered at Torchwood. Yvonne Hartman had been irritated to be sure, but wasn't out for blood. The Director tended to be one to look at the big picture of things, rather than details like disgruntled employees. Jack had also learned that Hartman had a new pet project that was all-consuming of her time and Torchwood's scientific resources. The scuttlebutt was that she was trying to find an unlimited source of energy, and thus, remove Great Britain's dependence upon foreign oil and gas reserves, freeing the country to once again, return to the glory of the Empire. 

Rose was given the all-clear to leave the Hub, so she began to venture out daily in disguise.

“I’m gonna just dye my hair black. I hate wigs. They itch.”

“No way. No way. You are not touching that blonde hair of yours. I refuse to pay for it.”

“Jack, you do realize that I’m not a natural blonde, don’t you?”

“Yeah, and I’ll keep paying for you to keep it that way. It suits you.”

He handed a cherry-red wig and clothing for today’s outfit. 

"I look like a proper punk!" she announced with glee the first day she put on the costume. "Fancy takin' me clubbin', boys?" she winked her black-lidded eye, and then twirled, showing off her short kilt, fish-net stockings, boots, and studded black leather coat. "Jack, how do I put this bolt thing on my eyelid?" 

"It's not a bolt thing, it's a barbell. Here, I'll do it for you." Jack took the faux piercing from her and gently put it in place. "So, where you gonna debut this outfit?" 

"Oh, I thought I'd check out the bookstore up at the University. Maybe study up on Victorian history?" she said, raising an eyebrow, peeking her pink tongue through her teeth. 

"Rose, I never should have let that bit about future you and the Doctor meeting the Queen in Scotland slip,” Jack said, embarrassed. 

Rose picked her fingernails. "I was too busy wasting my time with Jimmy Stone, so I failed that history module. Thought I'd catch up. That's all. What else am I supposed to do? You're busy working to set up surveillance equipment and computer stuff, and Hal is stuck in his lab studying my blood and yours, and that hand you seem to think belongs to the Doctor, and I am bored to 

death. I've moved all the cords that needed to be moved and you blokes don't seem to need me around to help much anymore." 

"Awww, sweetheart, we love having you around! And you know, you ain't gonna find yourself or the Doctor in any history book, Rosie," Jack chided and then gave her a one-arm hug and kissed her cheek. "Bring us back some dinner. And be careful! Don't talk to strangers!" he ordered, pointing a finger. 

"Yes, big brother," she sing-songed. "Hey Hal, you want anything while I'm out?" "A salad perhaps? No cream-based dressing, please."  
"Sure thing Dr. Health," she joked as she happily bounced out of the Hub. 

She was excited to breathe fresh air and feel the real sun (or rain) on her face. The last thing she ever expected was to hear the most dear sound in the universe, and then to see the most beautiful sight she could possibly imagine appear right in front of her eyes. Her feet were glued to the stone pavement, she held her breath in her lungs as the magic blue box appeared, ghostly at first, and then solidified into reality. The door began to open, and out came herself. She was smiling brightly, and she was holding hands with a tall, thin man with a matching happy smile – the man in the brown pinstripes and the really great hair. The man's arms held onto the other Rose, holding her back, preventing the two women from touching each other. 

Rose reached up and slowly pulled off her red wig, letting it drop to the ground. She was the first to speak. "Are you — are you the Doctor? My Doctor?" 

He pursed his lips tightly, and his eyes smiled, crinkles appearing in the corners as he nodded before he spoke. "Rose Tyler. Today's the day!" 

“So why am I here? In Cardiff? Dressed like a punk?" The Rose who was holding the Doctor’s hand had a shorter hairstyle than Punk Rose was wearing under the wig, and was wearing the same outfit she had worn the last time she was in Cardiff — jean skirt and jacket, and that multicolored scarf.

"This is the day I find you," he turned to his Rainbow Scarf Rose, and then to Punk Rose in front of him. “It’s the day I find my Rose.” The Doctor's voice was barely audible. He released Rainbow Scarf Rose's hand, and in two long strides, reached his lost Rose. He pulled her into an embrace and held onto her, afraid to let her go. 

"You mean today is the day that you take me back? Back to my Mum's? Take my memories away?" the Rose in the scarf blurted out, as hidden memories flooded her mind. 

Punk Rose pulled away from the Doctor and held him at arms' length. "You left me! You just left me at my Mum's without a goodbye! And now you are going to do it again? Take me back there again? You alien git!" Rose angrily screamed, wriggled out of his arms and fled him across the Plass. 

"Don't wander off, Rose!" the Doctor hastily said to Rose in the scarf. And then took off after the leather-coated Rose. 

Rainbow Scarf Rose began to laugh uncontrollably, overwhelmed by the sheer bliss of remembering what was about to happen, knowing that her former self was about to get her life back. Unable to walk any further due to her uncontrollable laughter, she found a bench upon which to collapse in joyful hysterics. 

oOo

The Doctor repeatedly called her name as she continued her futile flight, finding herself at the end of a pier jutting out into Cardiff Bay, surrounded by water on three sides and the approaching Doctor on the fourth. Rose backed herself up against the safety railing as he slowly approached. He held up his hands to as an offer of his innocent intentions, and Rose's anger subsided a bit as she saw the soft expression in his eyes. 

"I have to assume you are the Doctor, because you came out of the TARDIS, and I am with you.” 

"I am, and you are here with me. You seem to think this is very funny.” He tapped his temple. He smiled and put his hands into his pockets taking on a relaxed stance that hid the butterflies that were fluttering wildly in his stomach. 

"You're from the future, then?" She fiddled with the cuffs of her coat. 

"Yep. About, oh, three months or so of your time."

"The two of you, I mean, me and you — we're travelin' together, right?" 

“Yes.” He continued his slow advance. 

Through quietly angry tears, she closed her eyes and mustered up the courage to speak. "You sent me home. On the game station, you tricked me to go into the TARDIS and you sent me back to London.” 

"I had to keep you safe. You would have died." 

"But I didn't! I went back for you! I still don't know how, but I did! I got back to you and apparently, according to Jack, I saved you, and Jack too! He can't die now, Doctor! Because of something I did! And somehow, I'm changed too." She began to cry in earnest. "I came back to life, and you were the first thought on my mind, and you weren't there. You were gone." 

For the first time, all joy had left his eyes. She saw such profound sadness. "I thought you lo—“ She blinked tears away. “I thought you cared for me. I thought we were special, you and me. Best friends. That I meant something important. And I have spent the last three months second guessing myself, trying to convince myself that I was wrong about that. That somehow I imagined it up. I couldn’t live with the thought that you’d ever leave me if you cared. I convinced myself that the mighty Time Lord could never possibly ever—" 

"Love a shop girl from the Powell Estate?" He paused. "That's the wrong question, Rose Tyler. The question is, how could I _not_ love you?" 

The look on his face changed again from despairing to something else entirely as he moved in closer to her. 

Rose and the Doctor were now toe to toe. She saw the same fire in his eyes that she had seen in her previous Doctor's. The intensity scared her slightly, but then he took his hand and lightly skimmed the side of her face with the back of his long, unfamiliar fingers – so different than before – long, lean and delicate. His touch was so gentle and kind, so full of promise that her fears were eased. 

"You have no idea how much you mean to me, Rose. No idea. Not yet at least.“ 

"Doctor," she breathed his name, "how do I know it's really you? That this isn't just another one of my wonderful dreams that becomes a nightmare right at the good part?" 

"The first time we met, in that basement at Henrik's, I took your hand, and said just one word. 'Run.' Believe me now?" 

"Believe? I’m trying to. But understand? No." Her messy hair blew in the wind as she shook her head.

“Do you need to understand right now?" 

"I don't think I—“ Her eyes drifted from his eyes to his lips, and then met his eyes once again. "Doctor.” 

He cut off the words that she may have been preparing to say with a gentle kiss that took her breath away, and she found herself wrapping her arms around this virtual stranger, trusting him based upon that single word: _run_. 

The kiss wasn't passionate or fiery. It was "hello," "I'm here,” and "I found you" wrapped up in the sweet pressing of lips long-hoping for the touch. When they finally separated Rose knew, without a doubt, that she was indeed loved by this man, and that she still loved him, no matter which face he wore. 


	11. Ten

Chapter 10 

"You're so different.” Rose looked into the Doctor's eyes, still wrapped in his arms. 

He gently stroked her hair with one hand, and skimmed patterns over her back with the fingertips of his other. "Good different or bad different?" he asked with one eyebrow raised as if worried that her answer may disappoint. 

"Just different,” she answered with a grin. "Not sure what to think about all this, really. I mean, I do believe you are who you say you are, but you just kissed me. He never would have done that. That's enough to make think I'm dreamin' it all up." 

"It isn't a dream," he whispered into her ear, his warm breath sending a heated shiver down her back before he kissed her once again, as softly and gently as their first. "Believe me or do I need to prove it to you again?" 

"I believe you. But if that's how you prove you are real, feel free to offer up proof anytime you want, Doctor," she smiled shyly. "So I take it, we are, you know, together now? We're a proper _us_?" 

"It doesn't happen for quite a while. In fact, it takes some rather drastic circumstances to get me to stop being such a coward, but, it does happen. And when it does Rose Tyler, _we are brilliant_." 

She immediately reacted to the thick, husky timbre his voice, and shockwaves of heat spread to every nook and cranny of her body. He pulled her closer to him, closer than they had ever been before, and she realized just how perfectly they fit together, as if this new, new Doctor had been tailor made for her. 

"I saw you once, you know. Last Christmas Eve. On Tower Bridge." She spoke abruptly, realizing that she needed to put a halt to the passion that she felt growing in her heart. 

The Doctor pulled back a bit with a look of confusion on his face.

"The day that big spaceship arrived. Sycrorax they called themselves, right?" Rose asked.

"That was you, Rose? I wasn't imagining it then! Thought I might have been going a bit off my nut back there. Glad to know I wasn't." 

"Didn't know you were you, of course. But still, there was something about you that was familiar. Was like something inside of me was trying to tell me something. You were arguing with a cop about traffic, standing by one of those fancy new eco cars," she said with an amused tone. "TARDIS blue even. I stuck around for a bit, and I could've sworn that I heard your sonic." She looked out towards the water. 

"You did. I was locking the wheels on my Prius so it wouldn't be towed off to who-knows-where by that really uncooperative police officer." 

"So why were you even driving a car?" she asked, brows furrowed. 

He pulled his ear. "The TARDIS locked me out for a while.” He tugged on his ear. “She gave me the old heave-ho. Grounded me in London." 

"Hold on a minute, you’re in London right now? And what do you mean 'a while'?" 

"She dumped me out the same day I dropped you off at your mother's flat." 

Rose pulled him over to a nearby bench. "Go on,” she encouraged. 

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "Seems I can't take a hint. My TARDIS didn't want to leave your flat, but I couldn't get away fast enough." He looked down at his red Chucks. "I was rather wrapped up in my grief, and I was sort of dying, too." 

"Sort of dying? What do you mean?" Rose asked, confused. 

"Time Lords have a way of cheating death. When mortally wounded or ill, my body will re-write every single cell, and I become a brand new man. Same memories, same intellect, but different body and different personality. The very same man, but different, too." 

"Jack told me about that regeneration thing. He didn't call it that though. He said it was a myth.” She paused. “But why were you dying?" 

He opened his mouth, hesitating to speak, and then looked then away before he answered. "You looked into the TARDIS. She looked into you. For a short time, you were something different. And during that time, you had the unlimited power of time in your hands, so the TARDIS allowed you to fly her back to me. You eliminated the Daleks and brought Jack back from the dead. But the power, the raw energy of time, it was killing you, burning you from the inside out. I took it out of you. I knew I could cheat death, but there is only one Rose, and I couldn't let you die. You died right in my arms. I had waited too long to take it out of you." 

"Why do you think I came back then?" she asked.

" _There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead,_ ” he imitated Miracle Max, trying to lighten the mood. 

She laughed brightly. “You quote _Princess Bride_ now? You really are a different man," she joked, amused for just a moment, but her face quickly sobered. "But I'm serious, Doctor. Why?" 

"I can only assume that while you were inhabited by time, you somehow reached into the future and saved yourself. I’m pretty sure you grew my hand back too." He held up his right hand, and wiggled his fingers.

“That is properly creepy,” she shuddered. “Hal. He's the doctor that’s hiding out with me and Jack in the HUB, he says I’ve changed. That my cells act differently. I'm kind of like Jack." 

"You're not like Jack, though. I would be able to tell. He's _wrong_ , Rose." 

"Wrong? What do you mean? I shouldn't have done what I did for him? What I did was wrong?" she asked, alarmed at the seriousness in the Doctor's voice. 

"No. He is a fixed point in time. That's why I left him behind. I was sensitive to everything. Time was burning me up. My body was dying. I had just lost you. My mind couldn’t handle his timeline. It hurt too much to be around him. I _hated_ leaving him. I owe him an apology, abandoning him like that. Come on. We should head back so I can take you home." 

"Take me home?" she screeched. "So she was right? Future Me? You are going to take me home!" She jumped off of the bench and crossed her arms and stared him down. 

"Rose. Surely you understand. I can't have two of you in the TARDIS with me. I'm going to take you home so that we can find each other. I'm in London right now, stuck without my TARDIS. Stuck without you, Rose. This me, sitting next to you, Future Me, only has Future You with me because we found each other in London. Present me, the one in London right now, has no idea you are even alive until after you go, I meant went missing. I don’t know you’re in Cardiff. Your mother has no clue where you are. I did _everything_ I could to find you, but now I know that my TARDIS was hiding you while you were here in Cardiff. And now, I'm about to pluck you from linear time, to be taken ahead so you can find me. Makes perfect sense, right?" 

“My head hurts.”

“Are you all right?” he asked, worried.

She barked a laugh. “Yeah. I’m fine. Confused is all.” Rose shook her head, trying to wrap herself around the backwards and forward and sideways nature of time. She rubbed her forehead and then sat back down and suddenly in desperation grabbed his hands. "Then take me back right now! This instant! Tell me where are you living! Take me there.” 

"That's not how it works, Rose. It has already happened for me. I can't change how or when you found me or there will be a paradox. It has to happen on its own. I'm sorry. It takes a while. And I'm going to have to take away your memory of this reunion.” 

"No! Please!” she begged. “Please don't. Not that! You can't do that! Doctor _anything_ else. You don't know what it has been like for me for the past three months. I've been a wreck without you! Just tell me when to find you and I'll wait. I promise. I'll be patient. I will!" 

"I'm sorry my Rose. I can’t.” His eyes glistened. “He pulled one of her hands to his lips and kissed it tenderly. His eyes were a reflection of his hurting hearts. "I'm so, so sorry, my precious girl. My dearest love. My third heart.“ 

Rose heart stuttered. “You really love me, don’t you?”

He nodded.

"Will I _ever_ remember? Now that I know you love me?" she whispered, losing herself in the words she heard him say. 

He nodded. "Yes. Today. I imagine that right now, you are having a rather happy little walk down memory lane." 

She squeezed her eyes, stood up and towed him off of the bench. Grabbing him fiercely by the lapels Rose Tyler kissed the Doctor. But this time the kiss was full of fire and the promise of more to come, and the Doctor returned her passion in kind as together, they poured all of their hopes for their future together into that kiss. They committed the moment to memory, delighting in the exquisite sensations: tongues dancing, cool lips massaging warm, hands tangled in hair, two torsos perfectly aligned, two bodies aching to be one. Knowing it could not yet happen. He would remember but she wouldn’t. Not yet. 

"I hate to break this up Doctor, but don't you think we should get me back to London?" 

Rose jumped at the sound of her own amused voice. She'd never wanted to punch someone so much in her whole life, and that someone just happened to be herself. But the Doctor laughed, and brought her out of her anger with the mirthful sound of his voice.

”She's right, Rose. We can't keep doing this forever. At least not yet. And very often.“ He waggled his eyebrows.

“That was mean.” Rose groaned, hanging onto the Doctor for dear life. She glared at her other self from around the Doctor's shoulder. "Do you know how much I hate myself right now?" 

"You bet I do!" Rose put her hands to her mouth and laughed at herself who was staring daggers into her. 

"Now there is no need to fight over me Rose," the Doctor said with a self-satisfied half-grin. 

“Oh don’t be so cocky.” Future Rose slugged him in the bicep. 

“Ow,” he whinged.

Leather Rose giggled and bit her lower lip. 

"I've talked to Jack, Doctor, told him what we have to do. He understands that the two of you can't meet. And then I remembered you’d made a memory stick with a message. We watched it together, and he told me to tell you, apology accepted and asked me to give you something in return." 

“A punch in the nose or a snog?" He squinted.

“What do you think? He’s Jack. I’ll give it to you later," she winked saucily at herself. 

He shook his head and blushed a bit. 

Rose turned to herself. "I also said goodbye to Jack and Hal from you, er — me. You know what I mean." 

Both women laughed. Together, the three of them walked back to the Plass and entered the TARDIS. Leather Rose was the last one in. She turned to look out the door one last time, and caught a glimpse of Jack and Hal standing a ways off. She waved and blew a kiss before she closed the door. 

And then she felt complete joy and contentment as the song of the TARDIS washed over her, welcoming her home. Rose leaned against a support strut and watched in amusement as the Doctor moved like a man possessed. He danced around the console, using his feet, laughing gleefully, as he worked the controls with a flourish. Future Rose pumped the bicycle pump. The beautiful green glow of the time rotor flooded the room as the beautiful sound of time travel groaned and wheezed. 

"You really are so different!" Leather Rose laughed as the Doctor dramatically pressed one final button and hopped away from the console as they spun in the vortex. 

Just as quickly as he had moved himself around the console, his mood changed. He looked at her seriously. "It's time my love. I have to take these memories away. I'm going to remove everything from Christmas Eve on. You can't know about Torchwood or Jack. You’ll remember the Sycorax, though.“ 

She knew better than to ask why. "When will you be dropping me back?" 

“A few weeks short of the one year anniversary of the day you died." 

Rose was suddenly terrified at the prospect of losing almost a year of her life. "Why so long?" 

"So you will only be without me for a few weeks of waking memory." 

She let this sink in for a moment. "But what about you Doctor? You'll have lived without me for a year! That's not fair to you!" 

He stuttered a nod. “It’ll be okay. I’ve planted evidence to indicate that you were hit by an out-of-control bus on the day of the Sycorax, and have been in a coma, cared for at home for much of that time. I've already explained all of this to your mother. She's ready and waiting for you, Rose. She loves you so much, and she misses you terribly." 

“So Mum knows about you?" she picked at her fingernails.

"Yep! She even likes me! Well, what's not to like? I'm brilliant!" 

Rose laughed through tears. 

"And you are okay with all of this?" Leather Rose asked herself, who had been quietly sitting on the jump seat, her legs curled under her. 

"It all works out in the end. You'll see. Oh, the places you're gonna go! Things he's gonna show you!" Magenta Rose smiled her brightest smile, slipped off of the seat and hooked her arm through the Doctor's. 

"I'll plant a cue into your mind. When you see yourself in Cardiff, you will remember _everything_ ," the Doctor reassured her. 

"When will I see you again?" Rose was crying in full force now. 

“Not long after I drop you off. You need some time with your mother. You have to heal that relationship, Rose. You are all she has. But you _will_ meet me. You just won’t know who I am. We have a bit of fun!”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Not _that_ kind of fun. Well, there is a brilliant kiss.” He winked.

She pinched her lips. “Will I remember seeing you on Tower Bridge?"

”Yes!”

"But how will I know you're you?" she asked, starting to panic. 

"When the time is right, you’ll figure it out on your own. You’re going to be frustrated. You won’t know why, but somehow, deep down, you’ll know that we belong together. But if you are anything, Rose, you are patient, and you will put up with me. I've given instructions to your mother, and she is more than ready to follow them. She knows how important it is that they be followed exactly." 

The Doctor led her by the hand into her old room, which was clearly no longer used, given its state of perfect order. “You cleaned my room?” 

Rainbow Scarf Rose and the Doctor looked at each other and smiled knowingly. “We share now.“ Rose answered with a wicked grin. 

"Me and him? We share?" she squeaked. 

“We’re together, remember? Why would you want your own room when we could be sharing a big, comfy bed.” 

The Doctor took Rainbow Scarf Rose's left hand into his. He activated his sonic, and a previously unseen symbol appeared in the palm of her left hand. He did the same to him own right hand, and an identical mark appeared. 

"What are those?" 

"They are our bonding marks. We promised each other _forever_." Rainbow Scarf Rose looked up at the Doctor, the love in her eyes deep and obvious. “We’re married.”

"Told you we were brilliant together," the Doctor smiled and then kissed his Rose. "Rose, this will be the last time I ever send you away. I can't live without you now.”

“This one’s stuck with me now.” Future Rose dropped her head onto his shoulder.

“Stuckity, stuck." 

"Well then... I'm ready," Leather Rose said with a nod, resolved and ready to face her future. "Take me home." 

The Doctor released his bond-mate's hand. Knowing it was time, Future Rose slipped quietly out of the room. 

"I love you, Rose Marion Tyler." He placed a gentle kiss on her lips as he aligned his fingertips on each side of her face. He closed his eyes. 

Rose’s eyes fluttered shut as her body, mind and soul immediately relaxed at the essence of the Doctor entering. A soft, warmth tenderly gathered up the memories and packed them away, hiding them safely behind a beautiful blue door until the time would come for the door to be opened wide, restoring the memory of their beautiful Cardiff reunion. When his work was complete, he kissed her one last time and smoothed her hair off of her face. 

He quietly left and joined his Rose in the console room. Her face was glistening with tears, glowing green in the light of the rise and fall of the time rotor. 

"Why are you crying, Love?" He sat next to her on the jump seat. 

"I suddenly remembered how lonely I was without you. Until you found me. I knew that something had happened during all of those months that I couldn't remember. But it felt like just day had gone by. One lost day. And I knew there was more, but I couldn't remember it. It was the emptiest, most painful and frustrating feeling." 

"It's almost over for you, my precious girl. It's almost over." 

He pulled her into his arms, and gently rocked her, soothed her broken heart until the TARDIS landed at the Powell Estate. He took the emptiness that his bond-mate was experiencing for her earlier self into his own hearts, sharing the weight of her burden, easing the pain she was feeling. He had never realized just how much Rose had loved and missed him during that year until now. 

The TARDIS signaled that it was time to materialize, so they separated from their embrace, wiped their tears, and the Doctor prepared to land.

Jackie's insistent knocking at the door of the TARDIS gave away her excitement to see her daughter and son-in-law (as she proudly insisted he allow himself to be called). Rose opened the door and welcomed her mother inside. 

"Is she here? Did you find her?" 

"Yep! We found her in Cardiff with Jack."

“Oh you beautiful man!" Jackie ran to the Doctor and grabbed his face, kissing him on the lips. 

He grimaced and wiped his face with his sleeve. 

"Her room is all ready, has been for months you know. Didn't expect it to take so long, you bein' a Time Lord and all, thought you'd find her sooner than this. Still don't understand why you couldn't just let yourself remember where she was. Don't make no sense to me at all." 

"It had to happen in its own time, Jackie. I've explained it before. Reapers, remember?" 

"Reapers, whatever those are. I want my daughter back. I've waited long enough. Now hurry up get her for me, you skinny alien! Shift!" she nudged him away from the console, and shoved him towards the corridor. 

"Hi Mum, don't I get a hug too?" Rose asked.

"Oh, of course. Come here, you! What you been doin' this week? I haven't heard from you for a few days. You've got that fancy phone of yours, but you don't use it too much." 

“Oh you know, always busy.” Rose blushed.

“Don’t want to know.”

“It hasn’t been _all_ sex, Jackie. We did free those slaves on Oneder.” He grimaced. “Did I just say that out loud? I thought I was thinking it.”

“Yes. You did.” Rose smirked.

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Can I make you two a cuppa? How long can the two of you stay?" 

“Rose will wake up in about twelve hours. I want to go over the plans one more time if you don't mind, Jackie." The Doctor deftly cradled his sleeping Rose in his arms. 

Jackie held the TARDIS door open so he could carry into her bedroom. He laid her on the bed and began to undress her while Rose pulled out a t-shirt with a bunny on it and sleep shorts. 

Jackie batted his hands away. "No you don't, Mister. She isn't your wife yet. I'll take care of this, if you don't mind. Out with you. And what is this getup she's got on? She looks like one of those shifty characters who hangs out at Camden Park." 

"It was just a disguise Mum," Rose answered from the doorway, letting the Doctor slide past her with an exasperated huff. 

"Well I'm glad to hear that. No daughter of mine will go out looking like this. You can just take this outfit away with you. I don't want it in the flat." 

“Of course we’ll take it off your hands. Now we have matching kilts, Rose! I’ll teach you the bagpipes!” he enthused from the other side of the door. 

“Is that some sorta secret code for a naughty game, Rose?”

“Mum! No! Just bagpipes!” 

“I don't want to know what you two get up to in that box of yours. But you're married and it's none of my business of course." 

"Are you almost done?" the Doctor bellowed from the sofa. 

"Keep your pants on, Mr. Impatient. It's not like it's easy undressing and dressing someone who's unconscious. There. Done. All safe and cozy and ready to wake up. Now let me get that tea." 

"I'll help you Mum." Rose followed her mother into the kitchen to catch up on Powell Estate gossip. 

The Doctor returned to Rose's room. The bed dipped slightly as he sat next to her. He adjusted the covers around her face and smoothed out the blankets. "I really shouldn't be doing this, Rose. I'm breaking some rather big Time Lordy rules. But who's going to stop me?" The Doctor held her hand and rubbed his thumb in a gentle circle. "Not like you can hear me anyway, but there are some of things you need to know about me before we meet. I want to help make the transition a bit easier, I suppose. First of all, I'm a flirt. I flirt a lot. And not just with you. Don't hold it against me too much, all right? My hearts belong to you. It will just take a while for me to admit to it. And also, I have a gob. I will go on and on and on. Humour me, would you? I love it when you listen to me. Nothing I love more, well, except hugging and holding your hand, of course, amongst other things... but those will have to wait." He smiled and then furrowed his brow. 

"About France. Well half in France, half in the future on a rather terrifying bar-b-que space ship. Nothing happened with Reinette. Nothing. Don't let her convince you that anything did, all right? She's a manipulative liar, and she is the jealous type. Let's see. What else? Oh, never, ever let me eat a pear. I hate pears. I'm not good at paying off my bets, so don't hold a grudge. And one last thing." He stroked her face tenderly. "Remind me to take you to see the flying rays of Arcturus Prime. I'll have a surprise for you there." 

Rose's eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, shimmered with gold. "I'll remember, my Doctor." Her eyes closed once more, and her face softened, a gentle smile on her lips. 

The Doctor leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He stood up, pulled a medical chart from a bigger-on-the-inside pocket and updated it with today's date, added a progress note in typical unintelligible handwriting. His breath hitching as he closed the door. He composed himself as he joined Rose and Jackie for a cup of tea and one final strategy session. 

"Okay then. Jackie," he pulled a few papers out of his pocket. "Here is the business card of the woman who owns the temporary employment agency. You will need to convince Rose she is ready to get out of the house and find work. It shouldn't be too hard. I've planted a few things into her mind to make her feel confident and restless. She will be more than ready when the time comes. The TARDIS has made arrangements with myself to employ Donna Temple-Noble to find a lab assistant for a project I'm working on." 

"How did you find this woman? Is she trustworthy?" 

"Oh yes. She is brilliant. She doesn't know about me yet, but for some reason, our timelines are tangled up together as far as I can see. She is amazing, and she will know Rose is special right away. But the most important thing, Jackie. You cannot let on that we know each other. Understand? I can't take the memories away from you. I just have to trust that you will keep the secret. She absolutely has to believe she's been in a coma for almost a year, and it's only in the last few days that she has been home. The doctor has a new–" 

"I know! I know, Doctor. Her physician has this new treatment thing that allowed her to come out of the coma gradually, and it allowed her to be home when she woke up. That the best way to come out of it was with me by her side and no other medical personnel. I promise Doctor, if it's one thing I can do, it's keep a secret. I didn't tell her for how long that she'd come back to life?" 

"Right you are.” 

"I know we've forgiven all of that, Doctor, but I only did it because I thought I was doing what was best for Rose. Now I know that you are what is best for her, so my motivation is the same. I will keep the secret because it is what is best for her." 

"Jackie Tyler, you are fantastic. I'm going to hug you now."

Jackie let out an 'oof' as the Doctor grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

"Well then, I guess we should be off. Places to go, civilizations to start, concerts to see." 

"See you two soon, I hope. Rose, use that phone of yours, would you?"

"Of course Mum. I love you!"

"I love you too, Sweetheart.” 

"Bye!" Rose called one last time as she closed the door on the TARDIS. The magic blue box disappeared from Jackie's flat, and she sat down on the sofa. For the first time in almost a year, she was truly at peace. 


	12. Eleven

Chapter 11 

_"Doctor? This is Donna Temple from the temp agency."_

"Hello Donna Noble-Temple! So nice to hear from you. How goes the search for my companion?" 

_"I have told you a million times, I can't list the job as Companion! It's Lab Assistant, you Dumbo. I am sending someone over today. I hope she works out for you. You are a very picky man, you know that don't you?"_

"Not picky. Discerning. I only take the best, Donna Noble-Temple. It's why I hired you. You are the best." 

_"Well thanks for that, and Donna is just fine. Really," she huffed. "I don't get any of your weird requirements. Don't matter to me though. You hired me to find someone, and find someone I have. Came in and signed up just yesterday. Never seen anyone like her. She doesn't have her A Levels, but I promise, it won't matter. She is brilliant, and she meets all of your weird qualifications, well the ones I thought weren't weird enough to tell her about, which means, I didn't tell her any of them. You will have to work all that other stuff out with her. She would have thought you were a nutter if I told her you wanted someone who didn't have a problem working with aliens."_

"Aliens are very real, I'll have you know, Donna Noble-Temple, and requiring a lab assistant to pick up bananas on the way to work is not weird." 

_"Oh yes it is, Sunshine. And so is calling yourself just by your title. Rather pompous in my mind. But you pay me the big bucks, so I am doing my job. And you struck gold with this one. She is as smart as they come. Cute little thing too. Ran into a bit of hard luck, though. Was in some sort of accident a few months back and lost a bit of her memory and couldn't work for a while. She really needs the job. But I promise, it won't affect her work performance at all. She lives with her mum down on one of those rough council estates. But she has maturity, you know. Wiser than her age."_

"So who is this super-temp that you have found for me?" 

_"Her name is Rose. Rose Tyler."_

"What did you say?" His voice broke. "I don't think I heard that last bit right." 

_"Pay attention, Mister Tight Pants! Her name is Rose Tyler."_

The silence was thick, and when he finally spoke, he had a rasp in his voice. "Thank you for finding her, Donna." His hand shook violently as he raked it through his wild brown hair. 

There was a knock at the door. Through the wavy, 150-year old paned glass, he caught a distorted glimpse of blonde hair. 

He felt as if time were moving at half-speed as he reached for the door knob. The antique metal was icy cold in his grip, chilled by the December air. 

After 48 weeks of fruitless searching; endless days and nights canvassing the Powell Estate; stapling 'Have You Seen This Girl?' posters to utility poles, walls, in chip shops; after countless visits and phone conversations with Jackie Tyler; hours and hours spent walking the streets of London, scanning for a trace of artron energy to indicate the presence of a time traveler... 

...it had taken the brilliant Donna Noble-Temple less than 24 hours to bring Rose Tyler right to his doorstep. He should have realized much sooner that the search for his Rose had been out of his hands. The dozen or so advertisements for the Noble Employment Agency had each arrived with a stamp imprinted with the face of a wolf. 

As the Doctor turned the knob to reveal himself to her, timelines began to shift and realign, and stabilize. What should he say? "Rose Tyler! It's me! The Doctor! What have you been up to?" No... Definitely not that. As he pondered his choices, it became perfectly clear. Rose Tyler was going to have to do this on her own; the timelines tangled at the mere thought of him revealing himself to her; but the stress of not-telling her just might force another regeneration. 

"Hi! I hope I'm at the right place. Mrs. Noble-Temple from the employment agency sent me over. I didn't have an address, just these directions." 

He stood with his mouth hanging open, silent. For one of the first times in this body, he was at a loss for words. 

"Uh. I’m sorry, I must have the directions wrong." Rose pulled the small crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and re-read her notes. "Do you know of a Dr. Smith in this neighbourhood who works out of his home? He is some sort of scientist, and I've been sent-" 

"No! No! You have the right place. I'm so sorry, am I being rude?" 

"Uh, a bit. Normally one does say hello when they open the door, ya' know!" She smiled, and it warmed his hearts. 

"Come on in. What did you say your name was?" "I didn't. I'm Rose. Rose Tyler." 

Realizing he had probably at least play the part of a professional, the Doctor extended his right hand in greeting; and understanding that she was now an employee, Rose Tyler accepted his greeting in kind. However, what she thought would be a simple handshake of greeting surprised her. Somehow Rose knew that things were going to be all right. A dim memory surfaced that warmed her heart. The Doctor saw this moment of clarity in her eyes, and smiled brightly, drawing her smile out even further. 

"Your hand. It's so cold. Are you feeling okay?" Rose asked, surprised by the temperature of his skin. 

"I — er — I’ve been outside in the back garden. Nice to meet you Rose Tyler. Why don't we go back to the lab? I was just about to make a fresh pot of tea. Would you care for some?" 

The Doctor led Rose through the house. She looked around the comfortable common area as she walked through the cottage, noting the many books and bits of technology scattered here and there. "So you an inventor or something? Donna didn't really tell me too much about what I was going to be doing for you. What sort of doctor are you?" 

"Doctor of everything, really." He turned and smiled over his shoulder, waggling his eyebrows cheekily. 

_Humble, this one,_ she thought with a laugh. 

"And here we are, Rose Tyler. My lab." 

"Pretty small for a lab," she commented as she looked at the small stone building. 

"It feels much bigger on the inside than it looks, though," he said clearing his voice at the allusion to his beloved ship. 

Rose furrowed her brow for a moment at the statement and then sighed, remembering the TARDIS. The Doctor started preparing the tea things. 

"Wait, if I'm your assistant, shouldn't I make the tea?" Rose asked with a smile. "But do you make good tea?" he turned over his shoulder and asked with a smirk. 

"Oh very good. Learned from the best. Mum makes the best tea in the Powell Estate, so I've been told." 

"Show me what you've got." He stepped away, and gestured for her to proceed. "Oh, I'll show you what I've got, Doctor..."  
The Doctor snapped his head her way before she corrected herself. "Er — Doctor Smith." 

"What do you say we take our tea outside? It's a nice day, and we can talk about things..." 

The Doctor reached for his long coat, slipping it onto his slim frame while Rose finished the tea preparations, her back to him. He watched her fondly from across the room until she turned his way, and he quickly averted his eyes away. He held the door open while she carried the tray outside into the comfortable courtyard seating area. She set the tray onto the small iron table and poured tea into two brown mugs. 

"How do you like your tea?" 

"White with three sugars, please." 

"Three? You must like it sweet," she smiled warmly. 

"Is it too cold for you out here?" he asked kindly as he wrapped his hands around the cup and blew across the surface of the tea, speeding along the cooling process of the hot drink. 

"A little. I was in such a hurry to get here, I left my coat at home, and just ran out in this thin hoody." 

The Doctor stood up and took off his long, brown coat. "Stand up. Come on," he encouraged as she hesitated. She dutifully complied, and he wrapped his long coat around her shoulders, gripping them fondly for a moment before sitting back down. 

"Thank you." She regarded him for a moment. "I feel like I know you. Have we met?"  
He tried to think of a way he could answer her truthfully. "No, we have never spoken before." 

She looked away frowning. "It seems like I've at least seen you before. Something sorta familiar about you." She took a sip from her tea. "So, you say you are a doctor of everything. What are you working on now, then?" 

"Well, I've been charged by the Royal Naval Observatory to monitor the data gathered by their deep space telescope. I keep an eye out for evidence of alien activity in this galaxy." 

"You mean, after the Sycrorax thing the government is finally admitting that there is alien life out there?" They both smirked knowingly and then broke into mutual grins. 

"So you do believe in the existence of alien life?” 

"Course I do. Too much evidence to ignore. Some people want to stick their head in the sand and say that the ship that crashed in the Thames last year was a hoax. And those shop window dummies a while back? What else could explain those? Aliens were behind that too. I used to have this... friend... this... man that I... well sort of... used to travel with... we uh... got separated and anyway..." Rose's voice trailed off sadly, and the Doctor's heart fell, but he felt an urge to press further. 

"Was he your boyfriend?" 

"Well, not exactly. I thought maybe that — he — we meant something but…” her voice trailed off. “Why am I telling you this?" she laughed nervously and blushed. 

"I have one of those friendly, trustworthy faces?" He smiled at her over his tea. "I won't pry. Go on with what you were saying. About aliens." 

"Anyway, he was sort of an," she paused as she searched for the right word, " _expert_ , and showed me absolute proof that aliens existed. What about you? Do you believe in 'em?" 

"Of course I do. I saw that ship last Christmas, well, more than saw it. I was, well, involved in the investigation." 

"THAT's where I saw you!" She pointed at him in an epiphany. You were having a fight with a cop on Tower Bridge! You yelled something about being late for a meeting with the Prime Minister, and then you ran off." She laughed. 

"Yep! That was me." 

"I don't remember much else after that. I was hurt badly in an accident that day. Mum says I was hit by a bus, but I don't remember any of it. I've been in a coma until just a few weeks ago." 

"What?" he shouted. "But your muscles, didn't they atrophy? What about your skin? Bed sores. Mental awareness, and — and —“ He lunged forward, his brow furrowed in worry, suddenly feeling the urge to hold her hand, but resisting the temptation. 

"Apparently there was this new advanced treatment that kept my muscles strong while I was out of it. I don't know about the other stuff. No one ever told me. All I know is that I woke up, and that was that. Felt like I'd just had a really hard sleep for a whole day; you know, like after you've been really sick?" 

"I would like to meet this doctor. Is there any chance that you could arrange-" 

"So you a medical doctor too?" she laughed. 

"Course I am. I told you, I'm a doctor of _everything_. I'm brilliant!" He took a sip of his tea, enjoying the look of bemusement on her face. "So, the last event you remember was Christmas Eve morning?" 

"Yeah. And of all things, I remember seeing you on the bridge. I have no idea why I was on the bridge even. Mum won't talk about it with me. Says it's too soon." She set down her drink and suddenly stood up. "I don't think you should pay me for today. I haven't done anything," she said as she looked down at her watch, noting that it was now 5:30 pm. She had arrived around 9:00 am, and it seemed that the day had gone by in an instant. 

"Sure we have! I've learned about you, you've learned a bit about me. So much of the success of a working relationship is based upon the relationship itself, Rose Tyler." He pointed a lecturing finger at her. "And I think you and I are going to get along very well." 

"I really should be going then. What time shall I report tomorrow morning?"

"Why don't I pick you up? No reason for you to take the bus all the way across town..." 

"It isn't that far. I'm used to it." Rose's first reaction was to turn down the offer. After all, her mother had warned her countless times not to trust strange men, and to always start out with the assumption that they only wanted one thing. 

"Much more efficient if I take you home and pick you up. We'll work in the car. Much of what I do is simply brainstorming ideas, and I have needed someone to just sit and listen to my gob." 

She stood up abruptly. "I need to make a phone call." She went inside of the stone outbuilding, dialed the number of the employment agency, and wrapped her arm around her body protectively. 

"Donna? This is Rose Tyler ... Yeah, found it fine ... Yeah ... He is nice ... Oh, he can talk... yeah, said he was a doctor of everything ... course I laughed! ... But thing is, he's offered to drive me home and pick me up every day ... Does that strike you as sort of odd? ... You trust him then? ... Well, I suppose if he's good enough to have been a special advisor to the Prime Minister ... Bye." 

Rose walked out of the building and smiled as she closed the door. "All right, you can drive me home, but you should know, I called Donna from the agency to let her know you were driving me home, so no funny business. Got it?" 

"I would have expected no less of you. Of course you should have checked out my respectability, but, I'm _not_ respectable, and don't you ever forget that, Rose Tyler!" He grinned. 

"Oh, I'll bet you aren't!" She felt an irrepressible urge to flirt back. "So I guess we'll be all kinds of not respectable together." 

"Oh yes! Come on then, I'll take you home, unless, uh you'd like to stop and get a bite of dinner to eat somewhere?" He looked at her hopefully, but then backpedaled, sensing perhaps he had pushed too far. "Or not. I'm sure you have places to go, people to see, men to date." 

"No!" she gasped. "Wait, I mean, yes! Yes. Dinner. That would be nice. And — no — no men to... date." She bit her lip, completely surprised by her reaction to this skinny man in the brown suit with the really great hair and the gob that didn't stop. 

oOo 

Two weeks had passed since Rose began her unusual temporary assignment with Doctor Smith, and she still wasn't quite sure what her job actually was. Every morning, he dutifully picked her up at the Estate. They would swing by a pastry shop and pick up treats to bring back to the cottage. They would sit and have tea, and he would talk about all sorts of scientific theories that she didn't understand. She found herself asking questions that made no sense to her, but seemed to please him to no end. They would then walk to a nearby takeaway spot and bring back lunch, and again simply talk. After work, they would share dinner. So far they had eaten Moroccan, Vietnamese, Thai, Hungarian, Jamaican and Greek along with standard English fare. He always insisted upon paying; she had long given up protesting when he told her to consider it part of her salary. 

Tonight, it was Italian. The third night in a row they had eaten at this particular establishment. Small white fairy lights had been haphazardly strung across the paned window of the restaurant. 

The Doctor gallantly held the door open for Rose, and the friendly owner greeted his new favorite customers, ushering them to an intimate table for two in the window. A waiter promptly delivered a basket filled with freshly baked crusty rolls, and the couple lunged for the delicious bread. 

“You know, the Earth has been contacted by many alien civilizations over the years, not just the Sycorax and the Family Slitheen. We were brought in after the fact in the case of the Slitheen, but were involved from the beginning when the Sycorax came. We had early warning of their arrival, thanks to me. Pretty lucky my telescope had come online the night before.” 

"So technically, you work for who, UNIT, you called it, right? I thought you worked for the Royal Naval Observatory." 

"UNIT signs my paycheck." 

"And you have met aliens?" 

"Sure have. Most of the time, though, their intentions are good, not like those nasty Sycorax. Sometimes they stop by, simply lost, asking for help." 

"Oh I get it. The bloke doesn't want to ask for directions, and the wife nags him until he stops at the nearest friendly planet, right?" Rose grinned, and poked her tongue between her teeth. 

He smirked. "That is a purely human stereotype, and not universally applicable." 

"How long have you worked for them then? For UNIT?" Rose dipped her bread into the herbal olive oil. 

"Oh, off and on over the years," he answered truthfully. "This stint has been almost a year, to the day, actually." 

"I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow," Rose said, her voice hushed, eyebrows raised as her mind drifted to the past as she looked out the window, watching a few late shoppers laden with bags and boxes. 

"You seem a billion miles away tonight, Rose." 

"I am actually." She turned back to face him again. "I was remembering a Christmas that I spent with —with my friend. The man I traveled with." She smiled a bit. 

"Tell me about him... if you want," he offered quietly. "It seems like you need to talk about this." His face was earnest, and in his hearts, he was begging that she would open up to him. 

"I don't want to bother you." 

"Please. You've listened to me go on and on and on about particle theory for two days now. Go ahead. Tell me. I'm all ears." He set down his half-eaten roll, and clasped his hands on the table, giving her his undivided attention. 

“You know, he had some ears on him, my friend did. He used to make fun of 'em all the time, like he didn't like 'em or something. But I did. I could have cared less what he looked like, not that he was ugly, 'cos he wasn't. He was older. A _lot_ older than me, and my Mum just hated that. Said I shouldn't be messing around with a man so much older than me." 

"How much older?" the Doctor asked in a teasing manner. 

"Looked like he was twice my age, but was older than that. Much older." 

_"Beauty doth varnish age, as if new-born,_   
_And gives the crutch the cradle's infancy."_

"Shakespeare, right?" Rose asked. 

" _Love's Labour's Lost_ , Act Four, Scene Three." 

"You really are a doctor of everything aren't you?" She took another bite of her bread as their meals were placed before them. 

"You were telling me about Christmas,” he urged her on, hoping with both of his hearts she would recall one of his favorite memories as he plunged his fork into his plate of linguine in an effort to hide how much his hands were shaking. 

"We were in Cardiff. He'd gotten us lost. Used to get us lost all the time, but this time, he got us really lost, but I didn't care. It was fantastic. The snow was coming down, and it was beautiful. I could've been anywhere with him at that moment, though, and been perfectly happy." 

"What were you doing there? In Cardiff of all places, on Christmas Eve?" 

Rose smirked a bit. "Well, it ended up not so bad. Sort of stumbled on a play. Charles Dickens telling the story of _A Christmas Carol_. Pretty good ghost effects," she snickered, eliciting a knowing grin from the Doctor. 

But as quickly as she opened up, she shut off the walk down memory lane, realizing that it wasn't something she wanted to talk about at this moment. Instead, she decided that she wanted to learn more about the man sitting across from her. "So do you have any family around? You sound like you're from London. You've never talked about anyone." 

He shook his head in a small negative movement and then looked out the dark window into the crowded London street. "They are all gone, I'm the only one left." 

Rose felt a flood of sadness wash over her, and felt the memory of a similar conversation, billions of years in the future on an observation platform. She saw the same look in this man's eyes as she had seen in her Doctor's eyes. No words were adequate to soothe a loss so complete. There had been nothing adequate she could say then, and there was nothing adequate now. So instead, without a second thought, as if driven by an unseen force, Rose reached her hand across the table to touch his, to comfort this man. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, as her face went white. 

"Your hand. It's so cold, Doctor Smith. Only one other person I know had, I mean, has a hand that cold." 

"Your friend, right?"

"Yes. How'd you know?" She withdrew her hand from his. "Why is your hand cold?"

"Why do you need to know?" He leaned back in his chair and raised his chin a bit. 

"Just tell me!" 

The Doctor tugged his ear nervously and looked out the window once again. 

"I can't tell you." 

"What do you mean you can't tell me? What kind of an answer is that?" she asked, her voice raising slightly. 

"I just can't. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." 

She huffed and pursed her lips angrily. "Why can't you answer a question straight? Like on Monday. When I heard that whirring sound? I asked you what it was. You wouldn't tell me. You told me you were whistling. No one whistles like that. I recognized that sound, and I need to know why you have something that makes it!" 

Rose shoved a forkful of risotto into her mouth and swallowed hard. "And for another thing, what is my job exactly? I have tried to get you to tell me what I am supposed to be doing for you, what my job is, but you never answer. I really like you Doctor Smith. A lot. But I am your employee, and it doesn't seem right. Getting paid to just sit and listen to you talk, or maybe hold a wire or hand you a spanner a couple of times a day." 

The Doctor sat quietly for a moment, and then his face hardened as he stood up, knocking his chair to the floor in his haste. It landed with a thud drawing all eyes in the restaurant onto the pair. 

"He wasn't stubborn, Rose, he was scared!" 

“Doctor Smith, calm down please. People are staring,” Rose whisper-shouted.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat and carefully righted the chair. 

She looked up at him, confused as the conversation switched abruptly. "What do you mean, _scared_?” 

The Doctor raked his hand down his face and then righted his chair. He settled in his chair hesitantly. "Rose, if you had the same effect on him as you do on me, the only thing I could possibly imagine that would prevent him from wanting to share absolutely the entire truth with you is that he was scared to tell you. To dare to want more with you.” 

Rose had no answer to this sudden revelation. "I — I don't know what to say, Doctor Smith,” she stuttered. “I’m — I'm — well, I had no idea. We've only known each other two weeks. I mean we’ve become good friends and all, but—” 

"And it feels like forever, doesn't it?" 

She furrowed her brow, and then nodded. “Yeah, it does.“ 

"And you are afraid to move on because you are afraid that you are somehow betraying your friend, even though you say you were never _together_." 

She nodded, looking down at the table.

"I lost someone recently too, Rose." He looked out the window for a moment and then back at the woman sitting across from him. "I have been so lonely since I lost her. And I think that perhaps you are lonely as well. I am not asking you to jump into some domestic _thing_. I need a _companion_ , and I think you do too." 

She continued to look down at her lap, nervously examining her fingernails. "A companion. I know what you mean. Someone who is more than a friend. Closer than a friend really. I had that with with him. We understood each other.“ 

"You have a look in your eye when you talk about him, Rose. A distant, sad look. I see it right now in your eyes, and I wish, I wish I could be the person to take that sadness away." 

Her eyes snapped up to meet his.

"This old man hasn't scared you off now, have I?" he asked, his eyes now twinkling. 

"You're not old," she grinned. "I think that, um — Come for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night?" Rose blurted the invitation. 

His face burst into a grin. “I would love to." 


	13. Twelve

Chapter 12 

"Oh, come on, Mum, just one hint? What'd you get me? A new purse? Or a — Oh I know! The new Coldplay CD! That blue jumper I saw last week! Jeans! New trainers? Earrings? An iPod, maybe? No, too expensive, that." 

"I'm not spillin', Rose. I'm very good at keepin' secrets, so you might as well give up right now." Jackie turned away from Rose to put another ornament on the tree. "Tell me more about this boss of yours. What in the world will I talk about with a scientist?" Jackie whinged convincingly. 

Rose laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much about what to say to him. He'll talk your ear off." Rose hung an angel ornament that she had made in kindergarten. "You're not mad, are you? That I invited him for Christmas dinner?" 

"Well, no," she pretended to play the martyr. "But he's probably really used to posh holidays and food and such, and well, I'm just makin' a simple turkey dinner." 

"Mum, you make really good turkey. 'S'probably the best thing you make. He has no one. I doubt he's used to fancy dinners. He never cooks for himself. Eats almost every meal out. I can't figure out how he stays so thin the way he puts the food away. Must run or something, don't know when he would find the time, though." 

"Oh! Would you go into my bedroom and get my mobile? I'm expecting a call from Bev anytime now. Harvey is finally going to propose!" 

"Doesn't she say that every Christmas?" Rose rolled her eyes and laughed as she walked towards her mother's bedroom. "Where is it?" she called from the flowery room. 

"In my purse, next to my bureau." Jackie quickly pulled out a sprig of mistletoe that she had hidden in her pocket and tied it to a hook in the ceiling near the tree. 

"I don't see it, Mum. You sure it's in here?" Rose called again while she rifled through Jackie's purse. 

"Oh never mind, I found it. It was in my pocket all the time." 

Rose smirked as she returned to work on the tree, but was halted by a knock on the door. "Must be him. Do I look all right?" Rose turned towards her mother and smoothed her jumper nervously. 

"You look lovely Sweetheart, but I thought you and him weren't that way?" 

Rose picked at her fingernails. "We're not. But he is a guest, and it is Christmas and — oh never mind." She turned away, and Jackie tried to stifle a smile, rather unsuccessfully. 

Rose opened the door and found Doctor Smith standing in the doorway with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a beautifully wrapped gift in the other.

"Happy Christmas, Rose!" He thrust the small present into her free hand and lunged through the door like he owned the place. "These flowers are for your mother." 

"For me? Oh thank you Doctor... Smith. They're just gorgeous. Really." Jackie buried her nose into the heavy bouquet of exotic blooms in a hundred shades of pink and red. 

"You got me a Christmas prezzie," Rose cocked her head and quirked an eyebrow as she fiddled with the bow. 

"Oh, it's nothing. Found it in a little shop and I thought of you. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to open it?" he asked, impatiently bouncing on his feet, grinning. 

Rose smiled and bit her lip as she tore open the paper which hid the contents of the flat package. She let the paper drop to the floor and she drew in a breath as a blue leather-bound journal was revealed. She opened it and read Doctor Smith's now recognizable handwriting, scrawled diagonally across the page. " _'I would not wish any companion in the world but you.'_ The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 1.” She blushed under his scrutiny. "Thank you for this. It's really beautiful." Rose ran her hand over the smooth cover a few times and then held it to her chest. "I have something for you too. It's really nothing, but well —“ She walked over to the tree and retrieved a box. "It's for your home." 

He thought of his TARDIS for a moment, but pushed the thought aside, and opened the gift. "What is it?" he asked, a bit confused, as he held up a metal hook on a wooden stand. 

Rose rolled her eyes a bit. "It's a banana hook. For your kitchen. I saw it in a fancy cooking shop and thought of you." She laughed. "You and your bananas. They're the only food you keep in your house, Mister!" 

"This, Rose Tyler," he held it up with a grin, “Now this is fantastic! Who is the genius who thought this up? I love it!" 

There was a knock on the door. "That'll be Mickey." Jackie called from the kitchen. 

"Mickey?" the Doctor swallowed hard and hurried into the kitchen while Rose went to get the door. It was the first time this evening that he had a chance to speak with Jackie alone. 

"He'll tell her Jackie! Last time I saw him, he slugged me for leaving her."

"He isn't going to hit you, Doctor, and he won't say anything. You told him not to." 

"I did no such thing. I haven't seen Mickey Smith since the day he punched me." He tipped up his chin defiantly. 

"Not You-You you alien, Future-You. Threatened to wipe his brain clean if he ever told Rose." 

”Future me?" 

"Oh bugger, I bet I wasn't supposed to say that. Oh, well. Can't undo the words now can I?" Jackie waved off the slip-up. 

"Dinner's ready. Help me bring the food in." Jackie ordered him. 

"Just hold on a minute Jackie. Future Me? He has visited you?" 

"Dozens of times. You and Rose both. We get along great! You even pop in for Sunday dinner regularly like a proper son-in-law." 

"What? What is that supposed that mean?" 

"I am not going to say anything more about it so stop askin' or I'll just get a big fat lecture from Future-You. Now shift! Bring in that turkey platter for me. It's heavy." Jackie ordered.

Her change in attitude towards him was now starting to make sense. She had been downright pleasant since he had arrived. This was not the same angry, cold woman to whom he had delivered the photograph of Rose on the frozen sea of Woman Wept a year ago tonight. He dutifully obeyed, and helped Jackie bring the food to the table. 

The Doctor was unusually quiet during the meal as Rose and Mickey happily chatted with Jackie about the latest Estate gossip. Mickey announced that he and Tricia Delaney were now officially a couple, which earned him a kiss from Jackie and a hug from Rose. After opening Christmas crackers, Mickey excused himself, explaining that he had promised to stop by Tricia's place for dessert and to meet her family who were in town, visiting for Christmas. 

"Nice to meet you, Rose's Boss," he winked at the Doctor. "See ya 'round. Take good care of Rose here. She's my best girl." Mickey squeezed the Doctor's shoulder firmly as he quietly spoke to him upon leaving. 

They moved to the sofa with their drinks and Rose gave the Doctor a friendly nudge in the side with her elbow. "You feeling okay? You didn't say two sentences during dinner." No sooner than he had sat down, he stood up nervously. "I um... just thinking, that's all. Sorry. Excuse me. I think I need some fresh air. Would you care to join me for a walk?" 

"Sure." Rose stood up and followed him. 

"Now just a minute you two, you aren't going nowhere.” 

They both turned and looked at Jackie curiously. 

"Look up, go on," she motioned to the ceiling with a smile. 

"Oh. Oh!" the Doctor yelped, nervously. 

"Mum,” Rose moaned as she blushed a lovely shade of pink. 

"What? It's tradition!” Jackie flapped her hand. “Now go on, kiss already! You know, it's getting awfully stuffy in here. I think I'm going to go out for some fresh air myself." Jackie slipped on her jacket and hurried out of the flat. 

"Well, I suppose we can't argue with several millennia of tradition," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. 

"Millennia?" Rose swallowed hard as she stood as still as a statue. 

"Ancient Norse. Kissing under the mistletoe was considered an offering to the goddess Frigg. And right here in England, if a girl was standing under the mistletoe, she could be kissed. Once young lady was kissed, she would then pluck a mistletoe berry. A kiss was a very serious matter in those days, and signified an offer of mar–" 

Rose silenced him with her lips. At first he was too surprised to respond, but then he smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her closer. Rose's found that her hands were trapped between their bodies, evenly spaced on his chest, one hand over each heart. She felt the steady double-heartbeats under her palms. As if pulled by their unseen force, she moved in closer to him as a silent request for him to hold her more tightly. The Doctor moved one of his hands to the back of her head, and the other at the base of her back, pulling her closer. 

Rose was drowning in the sublime feeling of his lips on hers, hypnotized by the familiar beating of his hearts, when he broke the kiss, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth for a moment before releasing it. 

"Lovely tradition, that,” he said with a cheeky grin as he skirted past Rose, leaving her dumbstruck under the mistletoe.

She gasped at the realization of what she had just experienced, and turned slowly to face him. As he sat back down on the sofa, his suit jacket fell open and for just a fleeting moment, she caught a glimpse of silver and blue peeking out of the interior pocket of his brown pinstripe jacket. 

Rose hadn't moved from her spot under the mistletoe, even though her mind was racing a million miles a minute. She walked slowly to the Doctor and reached out to feel his skin. "Your hands. They're always so cold. Like his. And your lips. They are cold, too. And you have two hearts. I felt them." Tentatively she leaned over, and with two fingertips as if holding something terrifying, she slowly pulled his jacket open. "You have his sonic screwdriver. How do you...? Two hearts... Oh... my..." 

Rose backed away, turned around, grabbed her coat from the peg on the wall and slammed the front door as she fled the flat. She ran down the stairs two at a time and propelled herself out into the courtyard. She registered hearing her name being called from the balcony above, but the ringing in her ears nearly drowned out the sound as she continued her flight. 

She found a low wall and sat down, feeling the cold through the denim of her jeans. Snow was falling in earnest, and she wrapped herself in her arms in a feeble attempt to warm herself. She closed her eyes and deeply breathed in the cool air. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes, looked up, and saw Doctor Smith standing in front of her, the snow sticking to his hair. 

"Who are you? Really?" She didn't even know she had been crying until he wiped a tear away with his thumb. 

The Doctor sat next to her on the cold, masonry wall. "I'm your _companion_.” 

"You know what I'm asking. Why are you always so _evasive_?" 

He tilted his head. ”Who do _you_ think I am?" 

"This isn't a game. Why can't you just tell me who you are?" 

"I can't. I mean, I literally can't." He stopped for a moment pondering how he could give her another clue without saying who he was outright. "Who do you know who has two hearts?" 

"Oh loads of people!" she said sarcastically and then shook her head with a sigh. "Only one person. And you aren't him." 

He turned her head towards him with a gentle touch on her cheek. 

"You know only one person with two hearts and cool skin. Who is that person? You need to say the words." 

"It was him, all right? The Doctor. His name was the Doctor! And I miss him so much, and he just left me!" 

"I know the Doctor, and he didn't leave you. He delivered you home to your mother." 

"How do you know him?" she stuttered through tears. 

"I've known him for years," he answered softly. "He never told you about regeneration." It wasn't a question. 

She shook her head. "Don't know what that is."

"If he is hurt badly enough, as a Time Lord, the Doctor can cheat death. He re-writes every cell in his body. He will look like a new person." He left it at that and then he took her hands into his, and placed them over his hearts, keeping them in place with his cool hands. "Yes, I have two hearts, and I have cooler skin. You found a sonic screwdriver. I just told you about regeneration. You're brilliant Rose Tyler. Connect the dots." 

She thought for a moment. "You're alien? From his planet?" she asked clearly confused. "But I thought they were all gone. He told me he was the only one left." She paused and closed her eyes. "At dinner last night, you told me that you were the only one left in your family. What... are... you trying to tell me?" 

"About a year ago, I lost someone _very_ important to me." He looked at her squarely in the ehyes. " _You_ are very important to me." 

She continued to feel the beating of his hearts under her hands: steady, strong and quick. 

"A year ago, I—” He stopped and thought out his words carefully so as to not mess with the timelines. "I was hurt very badly. I was dying, Rose."

She pinched her lips together and breathed a stuttering breath in and out. “Are you saying you're the Doctor? My Doctor? And you did the regen...er—“ 

"Regeneration," he corrected gently. "But do _you_ think that is who I am?" 

"I want to believe it's you." She pulled her hands away and covered her face, took in a deep breath and dropped them into her lap. "But if you are the Doctor, then it's true. You left me! And I don't know what to say about that. I need you to tell me: what was the very first thing you said to me?" 

"Oh, that's easy!" He gave her a confident half smile. "One word. Just one word. Run." 

”It is you then."

"It's me." He answered quietly, still smiling.

She tentatively touched his hair and then his face. "You're so different than him." 

"Good different or bad different?" 

"Just different." She bit her lip. "I kissed you." 

"You did.” 

"I'm sorry." 

"Why are you sorry? It was just tradition, right?" he asked quietly into her ear, his warm breath sending a tingle down her spine. 

"Yeah. Just tradition," she whispered and let her eyes flutter down to his lips once again. She leaned in closer and touched her lips to his, feather light. 

And then they heard it. The sound of time. The TARDIS materializing, solidifying right there in the courtyard of the Powell Estate. 

The Doctor stood up abruptly, grabbed her hand, and pulled her in a full-tilt run to the door of the TARDIS. When they reached it together, he placed his hand on the ship and smiled. “Old Girl. You came back. You needed her to remember didn't you?" The Doctor grinned madly as he pulled his key out of his pocket and opened the door to his TARDIS for the first time in over a year. He sprinted up the ramp, ran circles around the console jumping up and down, yelping his joy before collapsing happily onto the jump seat. 

"Rose Tyler, my TARDIS stranded me in London because I left you. I wouldn't listen to her. She tried to tell me you were going to be okay, but all I could think about was losing you, and then the regeneration began, so I took her into the vortex. After I recovered, she dumped me in London. Kicked me out, right on the Embankment. Set me up with a job, a cottage, a car. Me! In a car! Imagine that!" He laughed giddily. 

Rose stood next to a strut holding on for dear life, watching the madman before her. 

"You're making no sense. I have no idea what you are talking about." 

"Who cares if it doesn't make sense? Everything is perfect! We've got the TARDIS back! We're together again! We can travel anywhere you want. Just name it Rose. Where do you want to go? When? Christmas in Bethlehem? We're there. How about trying for Naples again? I sort of overshot and we ended up in Cardiff on Christmas Eve. Would you like that? I know! Barcelona! The planet, not the city!" 

"That's all you can say? _'Where do you want to go'_? Why didn't you tell me who you were that first day?" she said, angrily. 

"You had to come to the realization on your own, Rose. I literally couldn't tell you." 

"You make it sound like some fairy tale spell that the princess has to break, and that's — that's just _stupid_!" she shouted. 

"You have to believe me. I couldn't tell you Rose. I tried to find a way to get around it, but every time I thought of a way to tell you, our timelines went wibbly wobbly. You had to figure it out on your own." 

"You've been in London this whole time?" 

"Yep."

"And you never saw me? Not once?" 

He had to tread lightly. "After I regenerated, after the TARDIS stranded me, I went to visit your mother. It was last Christmas. I told her who I was, and amazingly, she believed me. Didn't even slap me. That was when I found out you were alive." 

"Alive? Why wouldn't I be alive? And where was I? Why wasn't I home?" 

The Doctor raked his hand down his face. How much should he tell her? Would it change their future? He could see two distinct possibilities, both of which involved Rose: one showed them tangled together for a short time, burning brightly, but ending in unknown tragedy. The second showed their timelines woven into an intricately beautiful design stretching as far as he could see. 

He tested the waters. "Rose, I brought you home to Jackie because you were dead." There was a seriousness in his voice that she had not heard before. 

"I was what?" she asked, barely whispering. 

"You were dead. Something happened after you came back to me on the Game Station, and you died. That is the only reason I took you home Rose. I was delivering your body to your mother." 

Rose stumbled numbly to the jump seat and sat down next to him. "How come I'm not still dead?" 

"The TARDIS. You looked into her, and she looked into you and for a few glorious minutes, you were one connected being. You re-wrote time. You saved me. You saved yourself. I just didn't wait around long enough to see it." Intentionally, he didn't mention the destruction of the Daleks, Jack's immortality and the reason for his need to regenerate. 

"I don't know what to say." 

"Well," he tugged his ear, "there's more. You weren't hit by a car, Rose. You weren't in a coma. You were in hiding. I looked for you everywhere. And then two wonderful weeks ago, you just showed up on my doorstep. But what happened between to you between Christmas Eve and two weeks ago? Now that, that is a mystery. You were absolutely nowhere to be found. But I do know this: you weren't in a coma, and I'm starting to form a bit of an idea why you don't remember the year." The beautiful timeline was still holding strong. 

"I believe you." Her own words surprised her. She didn't know how or why, but she knew what he said was true. "I don't know how or why, but I believe this whole crazy thing. I feel normal. Happy. For the first time in the longest time, I feel _lighter_ , like a giant weight that I’ve been carrying has beebn taken away. I don't know everything, and I don't feel like I have to know it all yet. It's like I'm not supposed to know everything, but I am supposed to let myself believe it." 

"Rose, we have a lifetime to figure this out together, hmm? Why don't we go back up to your flat and take your mother out of her misery? She's been keeping this secret for a year now." 

"A whole year!" The Doctor winced as Rose screeched, standing up quickly. "If I weren't so happy right now, I'd probably smack the both of you!" 

"Like I said... we have a lot to figure out together. Let's have a happy Christmas together. What do you say?" 

"I like that idea, Doctor!" 

The Doctor pulled her into his arms, and swung her around before setting her down. They stood and held on tightly to each other for a long time before they separated, and then hand in hand they walked back up to the Tyler flat. 

Jackie was sitting on the couch drinking a cup of tea with a plate of Christmas biscuits on her lap, watching a Christmas special. Without taking her eyes off of the telly, she spoke. "Did you finally figure it out, Rose? Who himself is?" 

"Mum, I could just punch you right now!" 

"Guess you did." She laughed. "'Bout time, Rose. You are pretty thick. Well, no matter. Glad the cat's out of the bag now. Doctor, would you fix my telly? The reception has gone bad. Use that sonic thing of yours, would you? And Rose, you gonna stay here tonight, or do you two plan on leaving right away in the TARDIS?" 

Jackie’s casual attitude threw both of them.

"I um, hadn't thought that far ahead, Mum. I'm still sort of processing everything." 

"Jackie Tyler, you are brilliant. I'm going to hug you, so don't move." The Doctor leaned over and gave her a big hug. 

"Thank you," he whispered into Jackie's ear before pulling away.

"You're welcome, Sweetheart. Thank you for being there for my Rose," she whispered back. "Now, I think I'm going to head off to bed. Wait! Oh goodness! We haven't opened presents yet! Sit down, both of you. Right now." 

Jackie went over to the tree and retrieved two boxes. "Rose, this is for you, and Doctor, this is for you. It still says Doctor Smith on the tag. I didn't want to give anything away, you know. Go on, open 'em at the same time," she encouraged. 

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other with confused and slightly frightened faces before they tore into their gifts. "Towels?" they asked simultaneously. 

"Well, pull them out! They're personalized! 

”His," said the Doctor.

"Hers?" Rose questioned.

"For the TARDIS you loons!" 

"But we don't share a bathroom." 

Jackie smiled knowingly and waved over her shoulder as she walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. "Goodnight, you two, and happy Christmas." 

oOo 

Rose's bag was packed, her new knit cap was on her head, her jacket was on, and she had a brand new pair of trainers on her feet. She opened the door of the TARDIS and let her duffel bag slide off of her shoulder as she looked at the Doctor, his face bathed in blue light. 

"So where are we going?" she asked in anticipation.  
"Further than we've ever gone before!" he smiled at her as he threw the lever.


End file.
